Neko
by kisshuismylife
Summary: Ichigo has feelings for Kisshu, but thinks he doesn't like her. What happens when the cat she finds outside her window hears all this? You'll find out- if you read!
1. The Beginning

**Neko Chapter 1:**

**The Beginning**

Kisshu and Ichigo were fighting again. The other Mews were trying to defeat his latest Chimera Anima, while Ichigo fought with Kisshu.

Ichigo dodged another thrust of Kisshu's swords, but still got a slit on her cheek. Ignoring the blood on her cheek, she kicked Kisshu in the chest- or tried to. He teleported, and before she could move, he was right in front of her. Strangely, this caused her to freeze, and Kisshu took advantage of that, licking the wound on her cheek. Snapping out of being frozen, Ichigo roughly pushed him away. "Kisshu! That's gross!" she said.

Kisshu just smirked and teleported away, alerting her to the fact that her teammates had destroyed the Chimera Anima. She sighed and turned to them. "What happened to your cheek?" Mint asked.

"Kisshu managed to cut me," Ichigo said. "It's nothing serious."

The other Mews sighed, and went back to the Café to tell Ryou and Keiichiro the outcome of the battle.

_**Meanwhile, with Kisshu: **_Kisshu had started feeling strange a little while after the battle. _I wonder if Ichigo did something to me while I was playing around, _he thought. _Oh well, I guess I'll go back to stalking her; Pai's out to get me again anyways. _Kisshu teleported to the tree outside Ichigo's window, landing on a sturdy branch hidden by leaves. It was his favorite place.

He noticed Ichigo was just coming into her room, and she was followed by two other girls. Kisshu settled down to watch them. After a while, though, he got bored, and was about to teleport away when he started feeling really dizzy, and then he blacked out. Unconscious, he didn't notice that he was starting to change.

When Kisshu woke up, he looked around. Everything was very pink. _Is this Ichigo's room? But why would I be here? What happened after I blacked out? _Kisshu thought. Suddenly he noticed things looked a lot bigger. _Did I shrink or something? _he wondered. Noticing a mirror nearby, he walked over and looked at his reflection- then nearly blacked out again.

Somehow, Kisshu had turned into a kitten. A small, forest green kitten with big gold eyes. _Well, this is the worst day of my life, _Kisshu thought bitterly. _How the HELL did I turn into a kitten? _Suddenly he remembered something, and thought, _Uh-oh… maybe licking the blood off of Ichigo's cheek was not one of my better ideas. If I have cat genes from that, that would explain why I'm now a kitten. Though I didn't think kittens came in forest green…_

Kisshu heard footsteps, and turned to the door. Ichigo and a woman who looked a lot like her- Kisshu assumed her mom- walked in. "Oh, you woke up?" Ichigo said.

"Myuu," Kisshu said.

"Ichigo, why is that kitten green?" her mother asked.

"I'm not sure, maybe he used to be white, and somebody dyed his fur?" Ichigo suggested. "He doesn't have a collar, though."

Ichigo's mother sighed. "Fine, I guess you can keep him, but if we see lost cat posters, he has to go back, k?" she said.

"YAY! Thanks Mom," Ichigo said happily, kissing her mother's cheek.

"I'll go find a litterbox and some cat food," Sakura said. "What are you going to name him?"

"Not sure yet," Ichigo said. "I'll let you know, then we can get a collar."

"Okay," Sakura said, and left. Ichigo closed the door and sat down on the bed with Kisshu. "What should I name you?" she asked. Then it looked like she had an idea. "You remind me of someone I know," she said softly. "I'll give you the nickname I would call him if he liked me. You're Kish, k?"

Kisshu nodded, stunned. _She thought up a nickname for me… But she thinks I don't like her? What gave her that idea? _he wondered.

"I can understand you if you talk," Ichigo told him. "I'm part cat."

"_I like my name," _Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled brightly and said, "I'm glad. Do you want to hear about the guy I named you after? I can't tell anyone else."

"_Why?" _Kisshu asked.

Ichigo sighed. "We're supposed to be enemies," she said softly. "I wish we weren't. He's really fun and playful, and he's got the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They look like yours. His hair is the same color as your fur, too. And I can't stop thinking about him. I should just break up with Masaya already. I would if I thought Kisshu actually liked me, but he just sees me as a toy. Maybe it's because I'm part human. I wonder if he has a girlfriend already. I hope not, though. It's bad enough that he doesn't like me, without finding out he's just playing with me until he can go back to his girlfriend. I like the nicknames he comes up with, too. He calls me 'Koneko-chan'. I wonder how long it'll last, though. Eventually he'll get bored, and probably go back to wherever he came from. It's scary thinking about him leaving. I know he doesn't like me, but I don't think I can live without him."

Kisshu wished he could cry right now, as Ichigo laughed bitterly. "I have a feeling that if he leaves, I'll probably just wither away," she said sadly. "The only reason I reject him is so Blondie doesn't get suspicious and throw me out. If he throws me out, I can't see Kisshu anymore. I wish we could form a truce like Lettuce wants, but that wouldn't help my totally screwed up love life. If I thought Kisshu returned my feelings, I'd tell him regardless of my teammates, Blondie, and the other aliens, but I can't. I think I'll break up with Masaya tomorrow, though. I can't handle even one more date with him."

Kisshu was shocked, not to mention feeling like he wanted to die right about now. _I had no idea I was hurting her this much, _he thought sadly. _If I ever get back to normal, I hope there's a way to make it up to her. _His ears drooped, and Ichigo noticed. "Did I make you sad, talking about how sad I am?" she asked gently. "I'm sorry."

_I'm the one who should be sorry… _Kisshu thought. Unfortunately for him, he was thinking out loud.

"Why should you be sorry?" Ichigo asked. "You didn't-" she stopped dead, eyes widening. Then she looked at him closely and said softly, "Kisshu?"

Kisshu backed up a bit. Then he jumped down and went under Ichigo's bed, totally miserable. _I don't deserve her love, if I hurt her that much, _he thought. Then he heard what sounded like a muffled sob, and started feeling even worse. Before he could decide what to do next, the door opened and he heard a man's voice say, "Ichigo, what's wrong?"

"He hates me…." Ichigo moaned.

"Aoyama?" the man, who Kisshu assumed was Ichigo's dad, asked.

Kisshu listened closely, and his heart sank when Ichigo said sadly, "No…. he's just boring, he doesn't hate me."

"Then who hates you?" Ichigo's dad asked. "I can't imagine why anyone would hate you."

"I don't want to talk about it…" Ichigo said sadly.

"Where's the kitten? Maybe he can help you feel better," Ichigo's dad said.

"Doubtful…" Ichigo said. "He's hiding under the bed."

"You haven't dusted under there in months, he's probably insane," Ichigo's dad said. "Do you want the insane kitten?"

"If he doesn't hate me…." Ichigo said.

"Sweetie, animals don't usually hate people, I think you're just depressed," Shintaro said. "Do you want me to get him out?"

"You're going to get dusty," Ichigo said.

"I'm not wearing my work clothes, if that's what you're worried about," Shintaro said.

"Just don't get clawed," Ichigo said. "It might help, I don't know."

"Okay, I'll get the insane kitten," Shintaro said.

Kisshu thought about hiding, but then decided to come out. So when he saw Shintaro look under the bed, he hesitantly came out. As he walked out, Shintaro said, "Boy, you're a mess, kitty. Ichigo, go get a little brush or something, and clean your kitten off. And I expect you to clean under there this week. There's like five inches of dust under there. When did you clean last?"

"Six months ago," Ichigo said.

"Scary," Shintaro said. "Go get a little brush, you can brush the dust off this kitten. What's his name?"

"Kish," Ichigo said. She went to get a little brush from the bathroom, and came back a few minutes later with a little nail brush.

"Have fun," Shintaro said, and left them alone.

**Yet another idea. If anyone thinks this is too much like their story, please let me know. Review plz!**


	2. Apologies

**Neko Chapter 2:**

**Apologies**

As soon as her dad closed the door, Ichigo sighed. Then she came over to Kisshu, and sat down next to him. To his surprise, she picked him up and put him in her lap, then started brushing him. Kisshu liked the sensation, and to both of their surprise, started purring. "You like that?" Ichigo asked him.

"_Yeah… it feels nice…" _Kisshu said. _"I guess I didn't realize that being a cat wouldn't be all that bad."_

"How did you turn into one in the first place?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu sighed. _"I think licking the blood off your cheek earlier gave me cat genes," _he said. _"I'm glad you're the one who found me, though."_

Ichigo sighed too, and stopped brushing him. "You're all clean," she said. "I guess Dad's right, I should take better care of my room."

"_My room's ten times worse," _Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled sadly. "Are you trying to make me feel better?" she asked. "I'm not sure I'll ever feel better, now that I've basically admitted to you that my heart's broken. I guess I really shouldn't share my feelings. It's not good for me."

"_Why can't cats cry?" _Kisshu asked.

"I'm not sure, maybe it's a human thing," Ichigo said. "Do aliens cry?"

"_Pai? Never. Me? All the time," _Kisshu said sadly. _"Not that it's really helpful, but I wish it worked in cat form too."_

"Why do you cry?" Ichigo asked. "And why do you want to cry now?"

"_I didn't realize the toy comments were hurting you that much!" _Kisshu wailed. _"If I had known that, I would never have called you that! I thought it made you angry, and you're cute when you're angry. I didn't mean to hurt you that much!"_

Ichigo was wide-eyed in shock, but before she could say anything, Kisshu said, "_I'll just leave now… I don't deserve your love after what I did."_

Before he could get out the window, however, Ichigo closed it, and locked it. Then, to his utter shock, she picked him up and hugged him. "Please don't leave," she said softly. "I need you. I can't live without you, Kish."

Kisshu was totally shocked. Even after everything he'd done, she still loved him? Then it occurred to him that he was the same way. The rejections hurt, but he still kept trying. But Ichigo had to hold it all inside, unable to tell anyone. _"I'm so sorry, Koneko-chan," _Kisshu said sadly.

Ichigo looked at him. "As long as you love me, and keep calling me 'Koneko-chan', I'm happy, Kish. Just promise you won't leave. Please?"

"_I promise," _Kisshu said. _"I'll never leave you, whether I'm a cat or a Cyniclon."_

Ichigo smiled happily. "Thanks, Kish," she said. "I guess I have two announcements for tomorrow, then."

"_What are they?" _Kisshu asked.

"I'm going to break up with Aoyama, and I'm going to quit working for Ryou," Ichigo said. "I know he'll have a fit, but I hate him, so he can tough it out. You have to stay here, though, k? I can't bring you to school with me."

"_Aww…" _Kisshu said.

Ichigo giggled. "I guess you can come to the Café, though. That is, if you want to."

"_Do I get to scratch Blondie?" _Kisshu asked eagerly. _"I have claws now."_

"Only if he does something nasty," Ichigo said. "I think you need a reason for clawing someone."

"_Oh, fine," _Kisshu said sulkily. Ichigo giggled. "I'm going to tell them your name is Wish, so they don't get suspicious," she said.

"_Okay," _Kisshu said.

Suddenly they both heard, "Ichigo! Dinner!"

"Come on, Kish," Ichigo said happily. "I bet Mom has food for you too." She picked him up and went downstairs.

Her parents were waiting, and Shintaro said, "Was the insane kitten helpful?"

"Kish was very helpful," Ichigo said. "Do you have food for him?"

"Yep," Sakura said. "I got tuna." She pointed to a small bowl, and Kisshu went over and sniffed it. "There's some milk there, too," Sakura said as Kisshu started eating. Ichigo sat down with her parents to eat as well.

Kisshu was finished well before Ichigo and her parents were, and decided to sit on Ichigo's lap for a while. It looked comfy. So he jumped onto her lap, and curled up happily. Ichigo giggled.

"Just don't give him our food, it's probably not good for him," Sakura said.

"Okay," Ichigo said.

"I set up the litterbox I got, do you want it in your room?" Shintaro asked.

"Yes please," Ichigo said. "Oh, I decided I'm going to quit working for my evil boss, so I should have more time to do homework."

"What brought this on?" Sakura asked.

"I don't like being bullied to the point of wanting to kill someone," Ichigo said. "And I don't get paid much, since Ryou keeps docking my paycheck to enjoy how angry I get. And I think he's a pervert, he keeps looking at me weird."

"HE'S GOING DOWN!" Shintaro shouted.

"So you want to come with me when I quit?" Ichigo asked.

"No, your father will NOT be going, since he'll get arrested," Sakura said firmly. "I know perfectly well that he's going to dig the sword out of the basement and try to kill Ryou, so he will be staying here, even if I have to tie him up."

"Grr…." Shintaro said.

"Kish is coming, and he's got claws," Ichigo said.

"Why are you bringing your kitten to Café Mew Mew?" Sakura asked.

"Just for fun," Ichigo said. "Oh, and I decided to break up with Aoyama."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"He's BORING," Ichigo said. "His idea of a fun date is cleaning up a river, and while it's nice that he cares about the environment so much, he's just not exactly my type."

"So what is your type?" Shintaro asked.

"Fun and playful," Ichigo said. "I'd like someone I can have fun with."

"Not too much fun," Shintaro said.

"I know, Dad, I'll keep it G-rated," Ichigo said.

Shintaro just sighed.

_**The next day, at school: **_"Hi Ichigo," Aoyuck said.

"Hi Aoyama, I've got something to tell you," Ichigo said.

"You know you can tell me anything," Aoyuck said.

"I think we should break up," Ichigo said. "I don't think it's working, and I've actually fallen for someone else anyways."

"It's the alien, right?" Aoyuck sighed.

"Yep," Ichigo said cheerfully. "I'm sure you understand."

Aoyuck just sighed and walked off. Ichigo's two friends, Moe and Miwa came up and said, "What just happened?"

"I broke up with him, it really wasn't working out, at least for me," Ichigo said.

Moe and Miwa were stunned. Ichigo giggled at the looks on their faces and said, "Come on, it's time for class!"

"Anything else we should know?" Moe sighed.

"Yep, we can have more time together, because I'm sick of working at Café Mew Mew," Ichigo said cheerfully. "Now we can hang out more often."

Moe and Miwa cheered up at that, and they all went to the next class.

_**After school: **_"I'm home!" Ichigo called cheerfully. "And Aoyama is a thing of the past!"

"Good for you," Sakura said. "I tied your father up, so go get Kish and head over to the Café before he gets free."

Ichigo giggled and ran upstairs. She put her bag away, and saw Kish curled up on her pillow. "Kish, time to go to the Café," she said.

Kisshu sleepily opened one eye, then stretched. Ichigo picked him up and asked, "Do you want to sit on my shoulder?"

"_Yay!" _Kisshu said. Ichigo put him on her shoulder, and said, "Okay, let's go."

_**At Café Mew Mew: **_Ichigo walked in on time for once, and Ryou looked up. "Baka strawberry, you're early," he said. "And why did you bring a cat?"

"He wanted to come," Ichigo said. "And I've got news for you, Blondie."

"My name is NOT Blondie, and what's your news?" Ryou said disgruntledly.

"I'm quitting because I hate working for you, and I hate you," Ichigo said perkily. Ryou's jaw hit the floor as Ichigo continued, "Oh, and don't come to my house, my dad has a sword in the basement and a flamethrower in the garage. And now that he knows you're a pervert, you'd better watch out."

Ryou was speechless. Ichigo giggled and said, "Bye, Blondie!"

"Hey, get back here!" Ryou said as Ichigo walked away. Ichigo just stuck her tongue out and continued walking.

**I just had the time of my life writing this. I hope you liked it too! Review!**


	3. Back to Normal- Sort of

**Neko Chapter 3:**

**Back to Normal- Sort of**

Ichigo took Kisshu home, and when she went in, she called out, "I quit! Boy, I left him speechless!"

"Does that mean I'll get untied now?" Shintaro asked from the living room.

Ichigo went in, and saw her father tied to his favorite recliner. She burst out laughing. "I don't find this amusing," Shintaro said. "Ryou didn't do anything, did he?"

"No, he just yelled, "Get back here!"" Ichigo said. "I stuck my tongue out at him. He's probably steaming right about now."

"I hope you told him not to come here," Sakura said, coming in to untie Shintaro.

"Yep, and I told him about the sword and the flamethrower," Ichigo said. "Maybe he'll think twice now."

"Good," Shintaro said. He stood up and shook himself. "Did you have to tie me up?" he asked Sakura.

"Yep," Sakura said.

"Can I invite Moe and Miwa over to meet Kish?" Ichigo asked.

"Sure," Sakura said.

Ichigo grinned and took Kisshu upstairs. She set him down on the bed and said, "I'll introduce you to my friends, k?"

"_Are you sure?" _Kisshu asked.

"They're great, and they like cats," Ichigo said. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hi Moe, would like you to come over and meet my kitten?" she asked. "Really? Okay, see you then. I'm inviting Miwa too. Ja ne!"

Then Ichigo dialed another number, and said, "Hi Miwa, Moe's coming over to meet my kitten, do you want to come too? Great! I'll see you then." Ichigo hung up and said, "They'll be here soon, k?"

"_Are they friendly?" _Kisshu asked.

"Yes, and they're also very understanding of me," Ichigo said. "Do you think I should tell them about my other identity?"

"_Won't you have to explain that your kitten is a Cyniclon?" _Kisshu asked.

"Not necessarily, and then it would explain why I can understand you," Ichigo said.

"_Do you trust them enough to be sure they won't tell anyone?" _Kisshu asked.

"Yep," Ichigo said "We've known each other since we were three."

"_Your choice," _Kisshu said.

The doorbell rang, and Ichigo got up, went downstairs, and opened it to see Moe and Miwa. "Hey Ichigo," they said.

Ichigo smiled. "Come on in," she said. "Kish is in my room."

"You named your kitten Kish?" Miwa asked as she and Moe followed Ichigo upstairs.

"Yup," Ichigo said. She let Moe and Miwa into her room, then closed the door. She looked around for Kisshu, and found him on her bed, waiting patiently. Moe and Miwa looked over, and Miwa said, "He's _adorable_."

"Yeah, but why is he green?" Moe asked.

"Kish is a little different," Ichigo said, smiling happily. She sat down on the bed, and Kisshu came over to sit on her lap. Moe and Miwa sat down on the bed too, and Kisshu looked at them warily.

"He looks kind of wary," Miwa said.

"Kish isn't used to humans," Ichigo said.

"He seems to really like you," Miwa commented.

Ichigo's smile faded, and she said, "That's because I'm half cat."

"What?" Moe asked. "When did that happen?"

"When my evil blonde boss decided he wanted to fight off the aliens who have been attacking Tokyo, and infused me with cat genes," Ichigo said. "I was NOT happy with him."

"Does that mean we can beat him up?" Miwa asked hopefully.

"Just try not to get arrested," Ichigo sighed. "You've already had two pretty close calls this year, and I don't think Ryou's going to be like the principal and lie to the police about why you beat him up."

"Oh, fine…." Moe said. "So I suppose there's a reason you didn't tell us?"

"School isn't the best place to talk about it," Ichigo said.

"Good point," Moe said. "Um…. what brought on you telling Aoyama that you wanted to break up? You used to be totally obsessed with him."

"His idea of fun is cleaning up a river," Ichigo said. "And while it's nice that he cares so much about the environment, I realized that he's a pretty boring person."

"I heard him muttering something about aliens," Miwa commented. "Did you fall in love with one of them while fighting?"

"Yep!" Ichigo said.

"He's not going to hurt you, right?" Miwa asked. "Because if he is, we're going to take him down."

"No, he's not going to hurt me," Ichigo said, noticing Kisshu was shrinking away from Moe and Miwa.

"_I thought you said they were friendly," _Kisshu grumbled. _"They're going to take me down. That doesn't sound friendly to me…" _

"Oh, honestly, they're not going to take you down," Ichigo said. "As long as you don't hurt me, they're harmless."

"Um… Ichigo, why are you talking to your cat?" Miwa asked.

"He's now convinced that you two are going to take him down," Ichigo sighed. "I told him if he doesn't hurt me, you won't take him down, but he never listens."

Moe looked at Kisshu, and said, "The alien you're in love with is a cat?"

"He didn't used to be a cat," Ichigo sighed.

"I guess that explains the green fur," Miwa said.

Ichigo sighed again. "Try not to scare him," she said. "He's not comfortable around humans. Except for me, and I'm only half human."

"He's shaking," Moe said.

Ichigo gently picked Kisshu up, and cradled him in her arms. "It's okay, they're not going to hurt you," she said softly. She started humming something that sounded like a lullaby, and Kisshu started to relax. Soon enough, he was sound asleep, and Ichigo gently put him on her pillow for a nap. Then she motioned to her friends, who quietly followed her out. When they were outside her room, she said, "Sorry, I guess he's not ready for more humans than my parents."

"That's okay," Moe said.

Suddenly they heard a warping sound in Ichigo's room, and ran back in. Pai was standing there, and Ichigo said, "What do you want, Pai?"

"I want Kisshu, where is he?" Pai said.

Kisshu ran over to Ichigo, and jumped on her shoulder, then hissed at Pai. _"I'm not going back, you'll just lecture me for hours on how Deep Blue is always right," _Kisshu hissed. _"And I'm not leaving Ichigo alone."_

Pai looked shocked, and Ichigo asked, "Can you understand him?"

"No, but I know that's Kisshu,"Pai said. "Why is he a cat?"

"Something about licking the blood off my cheek yesterday," Ichigo said.

"And what did he say? He sounds upset about something," Pai said.

"He said, "I'm not going back, you'll just lecture me for hours on how Deep Blue is always right," Ichigo said. "And then he said, "And I'm not leaving Ichigo alone."

"I was afraid of that," Pai sighed. "Not exactly great timing, Kisshu."

Kisshu tilted his head to one side. Pai noticed and said, "After you disappeared, Deep Blue decided he'd had it with us, and went to go bring in his human host. I went to the Café after that, but when I asked about a truce, Ryou threw a plate at me and told me Ichigo had quit. So I decided to come here and figure out what was going on."

"I quit because I hate Ryou," Ichigo said. "He's an evil jerk."

"So it had nothing to do with Kisshu?" Pai asked.

"No, I also quit so I could spend more time with Kish," Ichigo said. "I love him, but I was pretending not to so Blondie wouldn't throw me out. If he did that, I wouldn't get to see Kish. But I didn't think Kish liked me. I'm glad he explained that he did."

"Do you know how to turn him back?" Pai asked.

"Uh… maybe," Ichigo said. "But I'm not sure it'll work. I can try, though." She took Kisshu off her shoulder, and kissed him on the nose. When she broke it off, Kisshu began to glow, and she put him down. As they watched, Kisshu began to change back into a Cyniclon. When the glow faded, Kisshu stood up, back to normal. He also immediately noticed Ichigo looked sad.

"Koneko-chan, what's wrong?" Kisshu asked.

"Now that you're back to normal, you're going to leave," Ichigo said sadly. "I don't want you to leave."

"You're dad's going to have a fit if I ask to live here," Kisshu commented.

Ichigo hugged Kisshu, burying her face in his chest. "I don't want you to leave!" she wailed, and started crying.

Moe and Miwa were still in the room, and Miwa said, "Should we go get your parents, Ichigo?"

Ichigo muttered something that sounded like, "Maybe…"

Miwa sighed, and left. Pai teleported out as Kisshu started stroking Ichigo's hair. She was still crying.

Shintaro and Sakura came in a minute later with Miwa, and stopped dead. "Um… Ichigo, what's going on?" Sakura asked.

"I don't want Kisshu to leave," Ichigo said sadly. "Now that he's not a cat anymore, he probably has to leave, but I don't want him to leave."

"Kisshu, do you have somewhere you need to be?" Sakura asked.

"No, and I never said I had to leave, I said Mr. Momomiya would have a fit if I stayed, and then Ichigo started crying," Kisshu said. "I don't mind staying, but I thought you both would mind."

Sakura sighed. "Ichigo, did you have to jump to conclusions like that?" she asked.

"Maybe…" Ichigo said sadly. "Dad hates boys, though."

Sakura glared at Shintaro. "Why are you glaring at me? I'm not that bad," Shintaro said.

"Yes you are," everyone else said.

Sakura sighed again and said, "Kisshu, do you have parents who would object to you living with us?"

"No, I'm an orphan," Kisshu said.

"Would you like us to adopt you?" Sakura asked, putting a hand over Shintaro's mouth.

"You'd do that?" Kisshu asked. "I could be with Ichigo?"

"Sure, and if Shintaro does NOT behave, he can sleep in the garage until he mends his ways," Sakura said. "It's pretty clear that you leaving is making Ichigo miserable, and I think that if you don't leave, she won't be miserable, and she'll go back to being happy."

Kisshu and Ichigo both perked up. Ichigo took her face out of Kisshu's shirt, and said, "So Kish can stay?"

"Yep," Sakura said. "He can have the guest room. I just have to clean it out, k?"

"Okay," Kisshu said happily. "Thanks, Mrs. Momomiya."

"You can call me Sakura," Sakura said.

"Okay, thanks Sakura," Kisshu said.

"Do you have anything you need from where you're living now?" Sakura asked.

"Not really, I don't have a lot of stuff," Kisshu said. "I just need one thing- these pills Pai made that will turn my ears human. And I should tell Pai and Taruto that I'm going to live here."

"Who are they?" Sakura asked.

"My brothers," Kisshu said. "Actually, their family adopted me, but I want to be with Ichigo. And they live on another planet."

"Alright, you go do that, and I'll start setting up the guest room," Sakura said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said. He looked at Ichigo. "I'll be back, I promise," he said. Ichigo nodded, so he teleported back to the ship.

**Yay! Kisshu's going to live with Ichigo now! Review plz!**


	4. Kisshu's New Home

**Neko Chapter 4:**

**Kisshu's New Home**

Kisshu teleported back to the ship, and went to Pai's lab, then started banging on the door, until he heard, "WHAT THE HELL IS SO IMPORTANT!?"

"Can I come in?" Kisshu asked.

"Yeah, fine," Pai said.

Kisshu walked in and said, "Can you give me some of those pills that make my ears look human?"

"Why?" Pai asked suspiciously.

"Ichigo's parents decided to adopt me," Kisshu said. "Sakura said that she knows Ichigo is going to be miserable if I leave, so she'll adopt me, and keep Ichigo's dad under control until he gets used to me."

Pai's jaw had now reached the floor. "You're going to go live with humans?" he asked.

"That's why I asked for the pills," Kisshu said patiently. "So can I have some?"

Pai sighed. "Fine… I imagine we'll be exiled soon anyways…" he said, getting up and going to a cabinet. He pulled out a bottle of small white pills, and said, "Here. Let me know if you need more."

"Thanks Pai," Kisshu said. "Will you tell Taruto?"

"Fine," Pai said. "Are you bringing anything else?"

"That picture of my parents, and some clothes," Kisshu said. "I'll go get that together."

"Good luck," Pai said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said, and teleported to his room. He found a bag, and put his clothes in it. Then he took a framed picture off his bedside table, and looked at it. It showed him as a baby, being held by his mother, a Cyniclon woman with green hair and black eyes. His father sat next to them. He was a tall Cyniclon with black hair and gold eyes. They were both smiling happily, their eyes turned toward Kisshu rather than the camera.

After a minute, Kisshu shook himself out of memories, and looked around, trying to think if there was anything else he needed. Deciding there wasn't, he teleported back to Ichigo's room. She wasn't there anymore, so he decided to look downstairs. He put the picture in his bag, and went down the stairs hesitantly. As he came down, he heard footsteps, and Ichigo came around the corner. "You're back!" she said happily.

"Yep, I just had to get a few things," Kisshu said. "Is there somewhere I should put my stuff?"

"Yeah, I'll show you," Ichigo said. "Mom finished cleaning the guest room for you, and that's going to be your room. Personally, I wouldn't mind sharing, but my dad put his foot down on sharing."

"Oh well, at least he's letting me stay," Kisshu said.

"Yep," Ichigo said happily. "Come on, I'll show you the guest room."

Kisshu followed her to a very green room, and smiled. "This is kind of like my room," he said. "Everything's green."

"You like green?" Ichigo said.

"Green and black," Kisshu said. "They've always been my favorite colors."

"I'm sure you already know what my favorite color is," Ichigo said.

Kisshu smiled. "It's hard not to notice," he said. He looked around, and put his bag gently on the bed.

"Mom wants to sign you up for school," Ichigo said. "There's only two weeks left till summer vacation, and I'm trying to convince her you should have some time to get used to being around humans before going to school."

"It seems kind of pointless to sign me up if there's only two weeks left," Kisshu commented.

"Maybe she'll be convinced if we both tell her," Ichigo suggested.

"Let's go then," Kisshu said.

Ichigo took his hand happily and pulled him downstairs. Sakura was in the kitchen, and looked up as they walked in. "Oh, you're back," she said. "Did Ichigo tell you about school?"

"Mom, there's two weeks left, it's completely pointless," Ichigo said. "Sign Kish up for next year, okay?"

Sakura sighed. "I suppose you're right," she said. "Kish, do you have any allergies that I should know about?"

"Bananas," Kisshu said. "I can't even stand the smell."

"Ichigo, go get rid of that bunch in the living room," Sakura said. "And tell your father no more banana bread. Also tell him that I'm sick of making it anyways."

Ichigo grinned. "Okay," she said, and skipped off. Sakura sighed and turned to Kisshu. "Ichigo's been pretty miserable lately, it's nice to see her this happy," she said. "Shintaro said he found her crying the day you came; do you know why?"

"She thought I hated her," Kisshu said. "And I thought she hated me. I guess we were both wrong."

"Why would you think Ichigo hated you? It's pretty obvious she's head over heels," Sakura said.

"While we were fighting, she always rejected me," Kisshu said. "I didn't realize she was only doing it for show, so the other Mews wouldn't get suspicious. And I didn't realize calling her my toy was hurting her. I was shocked when she said she still wants me around. I don't deserve her…"

Sakura took Kisshu's chin in her hand, and made him look at her. "If Ichigo thinks you deserve her love, than you do, Kish. If you truly love her, you'll trust her on that, not get depressed over the past."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "I knew from the moment I met her that I'd never find anyone else."

"Good," Sakura said. She let him go, just as they heard from the living room, "I can't have ANY banana bread?"

"No," Ichigo replied. "And Mom's sick of making it anyways. You should switch to chocolate. And while you sulk, I'll go throw these bananas in the outside garbage."

"I'm NOT sulking," Shintaro said. "I'm simmering."

"Um… Dad, you're not a pot of soup, so you can't be simmering," Ichigo said. "Say goodbye to the bananas."

Sakura giggled. "They're so funny," she said, as they heard a groan, then a door opening and shutting.

A while later, Ichigo came back to the kitchen, and said, "Dad's sulking."

"He'll live," Sakura said. "Maybe my chocolate mousse will cheer him up."

"You made some?" Ichigo asked eagerly.

"Yep, we can have it after dinner," Sakura said. "Kish, do you like chocolate?"

"I love chocolate, but I don't know what chocolate mousse is," Kisshu said. "I thought a moose was a type of animal."

Sakura giggled. "It is, but this type of mousse is spelled differently, and it's melted chocolate mixed with heavy cream and whipped up," she said.

"Kish, you're drooling," Ichigo giggled.

Kisshu turned red and wiped his mouth. "Sorry," he said.

"It's fine, even the description of chocolate mousse is good," Ichigo said. "Mom, what are we having for dinner?"

"Chicken katsu, salad, and cold noodles," Sakura said. "And YES, you have to have salad."

"Koneko-chan, you don't like salad?" Kisshu asked.

"I don't like vegetables, period," Ichigo said. "I love fruit, though."

"Strawberries, right?" Kisshu asked with a smirk.

"Yup," Ichigo said happily. "But I like other fruits as well."

"Do you like apples?" Kisshu asked.

"I like apples in desserts, I'm not too big on them fresh," Ichigo said. "Do you like apples?"

"Pai claims I'm obsessed with them," Kisshu said. "I love apples. I didn't know you could make things with them though."

"Wow… you can make lots of things with apples," Ichigo said. "Apple juice, apple sauce, apple pie, apple cake, apple crisp… The list goes on forever."

Kisshu was looking happier by the minute. "I'd love to try some of those," he said.

"Mom's good at baking, I'm sure she could make some apple desserts," Ichigo said.

"I'd love to," Sakura said. "It'll be a nice change from chocolate chip banana bread."

"You put _chocolate chips _with _bananas_?" Kisshu asked.

"I'm not too keen on it either," Ichigo sighed. "But Dad likes it." She perked up suddenly, and said, "Now that you're living here, I'll never have to see it again!"

"And I'll never have to make it again!" Sakura said happily. "I'm so glad I adopted you, Kish."

Kisshu lifted an eyebrow. "Because I'm allergic to bananas?" he asked.

"That, and you're really sweet," Sakura said.

"Th-thanks," Kisshu said. Ichigo hugged him happily.

Suddenly they heard a noise upstairs, and Sakura said, "I hope no one broke in."

"I'll go check," Kisshu said. He teleported to the sound, and found Taruto in Ichigo's room, looking nervously at what appeared to be a broken lamp. Taruto jumped when he heard Kisshu.

"Taruto," Kisshu said in monotone, which succeeded in scaring the living daylights out of Taruto.

"Y-yeah?" Taruto asked.

"Fix that, or I will strangle you," Kisshu said, still in monotone.

"Right!" Taruto said, and carefully put the pieces of the lamp back together, then snapped his fingers. The lamp had been completely repaired, and Taruto put it back in place, then looked nervously at Kisshu.

"Would you care to explain what you're doing in Ichigo's room?" Kisshu asked, taking out one of his swords and twirling it around.

"Um… Pai said you decided to live with the-" Kisshu growled, and Taruto quickly rephrased that to, "Pai said you decided to live with Ichigo, so I came to say that I'll miss you."

Kisshu sighed. "I'll miss you too, but as long as you don't break things, I suppose you can visit," he said. "Now you're going to go apologize to Sakura for making her think you were a thief."

"Uh… okay," Taruto said, and followed Kisshu nervously downstairs.

Sakura and Ichigo were still in the kitchen, and they looked up as Kisshu and Taruto came in. "The noise was Taruto breaking a lamp, and I made him fix it," Kisshu said. "And now Taruto has something to say."

"I'm sorry for coming and breaking Ichigo's lamp," Taruto said. "I just wanted to say goodbye to Kisshu." He looked at Kisshu, who said, "Very good, runt. Now you can go."

Taruto sighed and teleported out. "Jeez, Kish, what'd you do, hypnotize him?" Ichigo asked.

"No, but talking to him in monotone scares him to death, so if I want him to do something, I act like Pai, and he does whatever it is without complaint," Kisshu said. "Sometimes I also take out my swords to make a point."

"Taruto called you Kisshu," Sakura commented.

"That's my name, Kish is just a nickname Koneko-chan came up with," Kisshu explained. "I like it, though. Either one is fine."

"Okay," Sakura said. Something beeped, causing Kisshu to jump. "Oh, good, the chicken's done," Sakura said. "Ichigo, will you tell your father it's dinnertime?"

"Sure," Ichigo said, and left as Sakura said, "Kisshu, can you set the table?"

"Sure, can you show me where things are?" Kisshu asked.

"The silverware is in the drawer next to you," Sakura said. Kisshu opened the drawer, and Sakura said, "I think we really only need chopsticks for this, so four pairs of chopsticks, and then I'll show you where the plates are."

Kisshu picked out four pairs of chopsticks, and Sakura showed him where the plates were. "Take that out, and then come back, I'll show you where the glasses are," Sakura said. Kisshu obeyed, setting out the plates and chopsticks, and going back into the kitchen. "Okay, the glasses are over the sink," Sakura said. "You can take those, I'll bring out the food."

"K," Kisshu said, and got four glasses, taking two at a time. Sakura came in with the food a minute later, and said, "Shintaro and Ichigo aren't here yet?"

"No," Kisshu said.

Sakura sighed. "Can you go get them?" she asked. "I think they're in the living room."

"Sure," Kisshu said. He went into the living room, and saw Ichigo and Shintaro arguing quietly about something. "I came to tell you two it's dinnertime," Kisshu said.

"Okay," Ichigo said. Then she turned back to Shintaro and said, "You can't fight the inevitable, Dad."

Shintaro sighed as Ichigo took Kisshu's hand and walked to the dining room. "What took you so long?" Sakura asked.

"Dad's sulking about bananas and me growing up," Ichigo said. "I really wish he'd get it through his head that I'm not two years old anymore, nor am I as fragile as I used to be."

"Fragile?" Kisshu asked.

Shintaro came in as Sakura explained, "Ichigo was born nearly a month early, and the doctors thought she wouldn't make it. She proved them wrong, obviously, but for the first few years of her life, we had to be extremely careful with her. That's the reason Shintaro is so overprotective; he and I both had to make sure she didn't get sick or hurt. We unfortunately told Moe and Miwa the same thing, and they took the idea a little too far. They don't only beat up people who hurt or would hurt Ichigo physically, they beat up anyone who insults her in any way. The principal of theirs and Ichigo's school eventually got tired of suspending them every other day, and gave it up. Now the school is basically living in fear of Moe and Miwa. The students will occasionally try to get around their watchfulness, but it never works. Ichigo, tell Kish what happened when the captain of the martial arts team called you ugly."

Ichigo smiled ruefully, and said, "Moe and Miwa were barely within earshot of him, but when they heard him tell me I was ugly, they literally leaped on him, and started beating him to a pulp. They didn't stop until he promised he would never say another nasty thing to me again- by which point the guy was actually crying. Then they got off him, and Miwa said, "If there is a next time, you'll be in a lot more pain than you are right now. And tell your team, too. If we hear one more person on the martial arts team say something nasty to Ichigo, not only will we beat whoever it was up, we'll beat you up again, because we'll know that you didn't warn them." The guy promised, and ran out crying."

"Remember that girl in first grade?" Sakura asked.

"The one who got a broken arm and a concussion, or the one who punched me, and Moe and Miwa jumped on her leg until it broke?" Ichigo asked.

"I had forgotten the girl who got the broken leg," Sakura said. "I've completely lost track of how many people they've beaten up over the years."

"Same here," Ichigo said.

"That's scary," Kisshu said. "What if they don't like me?"

"As long as you don't hurt me in any way, they're harmless," Ichigo said. "And they'll get used to you. It'll just take a while, but I'll make sure you don't get beaten up."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "Thanks, Koneko-chan."

Ichigo smiled. "Sure Kish."

**Okay, I'll try to post more tomorrow, but I want to try to get another chapter of Namida out. Review plz!**


	5. Settling In

**Neko Chapter 5:**

**Settling In**

When they were finished with dinner, Sakura brought out the chocolate mousse. She scooped some into four bowls, and handed them out. Kisshu looked at his, then took a bite. Ichigo watched, smiling, as Kisshu started looking blissfully happy. "I take it you like chocolate mousse?" she asked.

"No, I LOVE chocolate mousse," Kisshu said happily. "I don't think I've ever had anything that tastes this good."

"Well, I'm glad you love it," Sakura said, watching Kisshu eat the rest with a smile.

Kisshu ate all the chocolate mousse in his bowl, and asked, "Is it okay for me to have more?"

"Not tonight, that stuff is really rich," Sakura said. "You can have more tomorrow."

"Aww…" Kisshu said.

"That's what Ichigo says," Sakura informed him. Then she looked over at Shintaro. "Are you _still _sulking?" she asked wearily.

"I like banana bread," Shintaro said sulkily.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sakura sighed. "Unfortunately, Kisshu's not the only one who can't eat it. Ichigo and I are sick of banana bread, and the chocolate chips are completely unnecessary. I suggest finding a dessert that involves either chocolate or apples, because those can be our new dessert themes for a while. I haven't made apple crisp in ages. I think I'll make it when we finish the mousse."

"Anything with apples sounds nice," Kisshu said.

Sakura smiled. "And you can do millions of things with apples, so we won't get bored, unlike with bananas," she said brightly.

"What about banana cream pie?" Shintaro asked.

"That makes me and Ichigo sick, it's absolutely disgusting," Sakura said. "And we're not even allergic to bananas. I don't understand how you can even touch it."

"Do I even want to know what that is?" Kisshu asked.

"No, you don't," Sakura and Ichigo said together.

"You'll throw up," Ichigo said. "And I think we should stop talking about that disgusting stuff, before I throw up."

"Are you feeling sick?" Kisshu asked.

"No, but if Dad keeps going on about the lack of bananas, I will be sick," Ichigo said. "Let's talk about caramel apples now."

Shintaro went back to sulking as Kisshu asked, "What's a caramel apple?"

"An apple dipped in hot melted caramel, and then cooled," Sakura said. "It's good, but really sticky."

"What's caramel, though?" Kisshu asked.

"It's a type of soft candy, it's kind of salty and sweet at the same time," Ichigo said. "I like it, even though it sticks my teeth together if I'm not careful."

"That sounds kind of good," Kisshu said.

"Maybe I'll get some sometime," Sakura said. "Shintaro will be doing clean-up, so you two are free to go. Don't stay up too late, Ichigo has school tomorrow."

"Okay, Mom," Ichigo said.

"Oh, one more thing," Sakura said. "Kisshu, do you have any human clothes?"

"Not really, my clothes are basically all like this," Kisshu said. "And it's not like I've got any money to buy clothes."

"Do you want to go shopping with me tomorrow?" Sakura asked. "I have a feeling you'll get bored with Ichigo gone."

"Sure, if that's okay," Kisshu said. "But aren't these clothes going to be a problem in a human store?"

"You can have some of Shintaro's for now," Sakura said. "He's got more than enough. They might be a bit big on you, though. You're very thin."

"There's not a lot of food on our planet," Kisshu said. "And Cyniclons have faster metabolisms than humans do."

"I see," Sakura said. "Well, it shouldn't be hard to find clothes in your size. I'll take you tomorrow, for right now, you can go have fun with Ichigo."

"Okay!" Kisshu said cheerfully.

"Not too much fun," Shintaro said.

"I know, Dad," Ichigo said. "You don't have to keep reminding me."

Shintaro just sighed as Ichigo pulled Kisshu upstairs. She pulled him to her room, and closed the door. "Dad will eavesdrop on us no matter what, it's better to close the door," she explained. "If we hear him, though, we can totally humiliate him by catching him. Then we let Mom lecture him until he agrees to whatever she wants. It works every time."

"Does your dad invade your privacy a lot?" Kisshu asked.

"Sometimes, but at least when I'm with Moe and Miwa, he leaves us alone," Ichigo said. "At least he doesn't read my diary. I've heard some girls talk about their parents reading their diaries. Why, I don't know."

"I take it that means you'd hate me if I read your diary?" Kisshu asked.

"No, but you'd probably cry," Ichigo said sadly. "The last month's entries were all about how you didn't like me and my heart was breaking into little pieces. And some of the pages are hard to read anyways; I was crying while I wrote, and it made the ink run."

When she turned away from the window, which she had been staring out of, she saw that Kisshu had his face buried in his hands, and his shoulders were shaking. Ichigo put her hand on his shoulder, and he made a small sound, sort of like a whimper. Then he whispered, "Why?"

"Why what?" Ichigo asked.

"Why do you love me, even though I'm a horrible person?" Kisshu asked. "I hurt you so much, but you still love me. Why is that?"

"I love you because I can't stop loving you," Ichigo said softly. "I wouldn't stop loving you, even if you never loved me back, Kish. Why do you think I worked for Ryou for so long, even though I hated him from day one? I knew if I quit, I'd probably never see you again, so I continued working for Blondie, so I could see you. And even though me rejecting you was just for show, I probably hurt you too. But you say you love me still."

"I knew I'd never love anyone else from the moment I met you, and now I realize I don't deserve someone like you after all," Kisshu said.

"But I need you," Ichigo said sadly. "And you promised you wouldn't leave…"

Kisshu looked at her- just as she threw herself at him, knocking him back against her pillows. She buried her face in his chest as she clung to him. Kisshu hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, and she snuggled against him. Feeling that, he tightened his grip on her, and started stroking her hair. To his surprise, she started purring happily.

Kisshu continued stroking her hair, noticing that her breathing was starting to even out. A few minutes later, she was asleep, still attached to Kisshu, still purring. And Kisshu was getting tired.

A while later, Kisshu was also asleep, having been put to sleep by Ichigo's purring. Unfortunately for both of them, Sakura had sent a still-grouchy Shintaro to tell Ichigo it was bedtime. And when he found her sleeping on top of Kisshu, who was also asleep, he blew his top.

He went in and shook Ichigo, who just mumbled something like, "Nyangh…" This only served to make Shintaro angrier, and he shouted, "DO YOU MIND EXPLAINING WHY YOU'RE SLEEPING TOGETHER!?"

Both Kisshu's and Ichigo's eyes shot open, and the two of them glared at Shintaro. "Seriously, you were the one who said it's a school night," Ichigo sighed. "What's your problem?"

"You're sleeping on top of Kisshu, that's my problem," Shintaro said grouchily. "And I didn't say anything about school, that was your mother."

"That's nice," Ichigo yawned. "I'm tired, can we go back to sleep?"

Shintaro was quickly turning bright red. Luckily for them, Sakura had heard the shouting and was on her way upstairs, so by the time steam came out of Shintaro's ears, she was in Ichigo's room. As Shintaro opened his mouth again, Sakura asked wearily, "Did you even give them a chance to explain?"

Shintaro's mouth snapped shut, and then he said dejectedly, "No….."

Sakura glared at him and said to Ichigo, "So what happened?"

"I fell asleep purring, and then Dad came in here and yelled at us," Ichigo said.

"I fell asleep playing with Ichigo's hair and listening to her purr, and besides, I didn't want to disturb her," Kisshu said.

"You're sweet," Sakura said. "And Shintaro should stop jumping to conclusions and start trusting both of you. I know you'd never do anything besides sleep, but unfortunately he needs some convincing."

"I'm still here," Shintaro said sulkily.

"Yes, that's very nice dear," Sakura said absentmindedly. "I don't mind you two sleeping together, but Kisshu, Ichigo does have to get up early most mornings."

"That's okay, I'm an early riser anyways," Kisshu said.

"Maybe you can help her, then," Sakura said. "Ichigo never wants to get up early."

"You wouldn't either if you had cat genes," Ichigo said. "So can we go back to sleep now, Mom?"

"Go get some pajamas on, k?" Sakura said. "Then you can go back to sleep."

"K," Kisshu and Ichigo said. Ichigo took out her ribbons, and grabbed some pajamas, then headed for the bathroom.

Sakura looked back at Kisshu. "Do you want to sleep with her tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think she'll feel better if I'm there," Kisshu said. "She keeps getting sad every time I leave."

"Okay," Sakura said. "I'll make sure my _overprotective husband"_- here she gave Shintaro the evil eye- "does not disturb you two. Do you have pajamas?"

"Yep, I'll go get them," Kisshu said. He got off the bed and went back to his room, then rummaged around in his bag till he found them. He closed the door and quickly put them on, and then went back to Ichigo's room.

"Where's Ichigo?" Kisshu asked.

"Probably brushing her teeth," Sakura said.

"Why?" Kisshu asked.

"You don't brush your teeth?" Sakura asked.

"Must be a human thing," Kisshu said. "I brush my hair…"

"Don't you get cavities?" Sakura asked.

"What's that?" Kisshu asked.

"A hole in your tooth from not taking good care of them," Sakura said.

"Oh," Kisshu said. "I think human teeth are different from ours. I've never heard of cavities. I don't see any humans with fangs, though."

"Fangs?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, my race all have fangs," Kisshu said. "I guess our teeth are different, I've never heard of brushing teeth. Hair, yes. Teeth, no."

"I don't think humans can have fangs," Sakura said. "I guess you're right; your teeth are different."

Ichigo came back in and said, "I heard you talking about teeth."

"Kisshu's teeth apparently don't need brushing like ours," Sakura said.

"Lucky," Ichigo said. "I'm tired…"

"You and Kisshu go back to sleep, I'll keep your father out," Sakura said.

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said, and climbed into bed. Kisshu climbed in next to her, and pulled the blankets over them both as Sakura turned out the light and left. Kisshu smiled as Ichigo snuggled up to him, and put his arms around her waist. She purred a bit and fell back to sleep. Eventually, Kisshu drifted off as well.

**I'll try to get one more chapter out tonight, k? Review plz!**


	6. A Kidnapping

**Neko Chapter 6:**

**A Kidnapping**

The next morning Kisshu woke up to some kind of beeping. He looked around, and saw a small clock that appeared to be making noise. He shook Ichigo and asked, "Koneko-chan, why is that clock beeping?"

"That's my alarm clock, it's supposed to get me up on time," Ichigo said sleepily. "What time is it?"

"6:30, why?" Kisshu asked.

"Because I have to be at school at 7:45, that's why," Ichigo sighed.

"We had to get to school by six, you're lucky," Kisshu said. "I had to wake up at 5:30 every morning to get ready."

"I hate morning…." Ichigo said. "I guess I'd better get up, I need to take a shower."

"K," Kisshu said. He got out of bed, and Ichigo did the same. Then she got out her school uniform and left as Kisshu stretched.

Sakura came in and said, "Ichigo's in the shower?"

"Yup," Kisshu said.

"I'm amazed she got up this early," Sakura said. "Usually she wakes up very reluctantly at 7- and then rushes around screaming, "I'm late!"."

Kisshu laughed. "She didn't seem to have a problem this morning," he said.

"I guess you should sleep with her more often," Sakura said. "And I'll keep Shintaro under control. Oh, that reminds me, I have to go let him in."

"'Let him in'?" Kisshu asked.

"Yep, he started ranting last night, so I made him sleep in the garage," Sakura said. "He was always one to learn the hard way. I imagine he's asleep in his car, I'd better go wake him up for work."

"That's pretty funny," Kisshu said. "Don't tell him I said that, though. I have a feeling he'll strangle me."

Sakura giggled. "I won't," she said. She headed out, and Kisshu started making Ichigo's bed. Ichigo walked in as he finished, and said, "Oh, you made the bed? That's so sweet, Kish!"

Kisshu smiled. "Thanks Koneko-chan," he said. "Do you want to go eat breakfast?"

"Let me do my hair first," Ichigo said. She sat down in front of her mirror, and tied her hair into the usual pigtails. Then she jumped up, grabbed Kisshu's hand, and pulled him downstairs. Neither Sakura nor Shintaro were in the kitchen, so Ichigo grabbed some cereal, and asked, "Kish, do you want cereal?"

"What kind is it?" Kisshu asked.

"Frosted Mini Wheats," Ichigo said. "I like it, do you want to try some?"

"Sure," Kisshu said. Ichigo smiled and poured some into two bowls, then got out the milk, and poured some in hers. Then she brought the milk and cereal to the table, and said, "I'll let you put the milk in yours, I don't know how much you like."

"Thanks," Kisshu said. He poured a small amount of milk in, and put the cap back on. Then he started eating. "You're right, this is good," he said.

Ichigo smiled as she finished. "I have to get going," she said. "I'll see you after school, k?"

"Okay," Kisshu said. "Sakura wanted to take me shopping today. I wonder where she is?"

"I'm right here," Sakura said. Kisshu and Ichigo looked up.

"Mom, is something wrong? You look unhappy," Ichigo said.

"I can't find your dad; it looks like he took the car and went somewhere," Sakura said. "And he's not answering his cell phone."

"Why would Dad do that?" Ichigo asked.

"I told him if he couldn't behave, he could sleep in the garage, and since he didn't listen, I made him sleep in the garage last night," Sakura said. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh on him…."

"Do you want help finding him?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah… I think I'll call you in sick," Sakura said, and left to find the phone.

Ichigo looked at Kisshu. "Do you think he's okay?" she asked.

"I think I can find out," Kisshu said. "Stay quiet, and if Sakura comes back in, make sure she does too."

"K," Ichigo said.

Kisshu closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating. Suddenly his eyes snapped open, just as Sakura came back in. "What's up?" she asked.

"Ryou has him," Kisshu said. "Ichigo, go transform." Ichigo ran to get her pendant as Kisshu told Sakura, "Call the police, and tell them to go to Café Mew Mew. Tell them Ryou kidnapped Shintaro, and said he was going to kill him."

"Hai," Sakura said, and ran for the phone. Ichigo came downstairs fully transformed. Kisshu grabbed her hand and teleported.

They landed in the main room of Café Mew Mew, and looked at each other. "The basement," Ichigo whispered. She led the way carefully down the stairs, and listened at the door. Hearing muffled noises, she carefully tried the door. It was locked, and she looked at Kisshu. "Break the door down," he said, his voice barely audible.

Ichigo nodded and kicked the door down, then ran in with Kisshu. To their surprise, they found not only Shintaro, but also Keiichiro, tied up and gagged. Ryou looked up, shocked, as Ichigo and Kisshu ran in. "How the HELL did you know it was me!?" he shouted.

"That's none of your business," Kisshu said. "Why did you kidnap Shintaro, and why is Keiichiro tied up?"

"Ichigo quit, so she needed a lesson about who's really in charge," Ryou said. "And Keiichiro's tied up so he won't interfere."

"You're insane," Ichigo said flatly. "I quit working at your stupid little Café, and you decide to kidnap my father? There's got to be more to it than that, Blondie."

"Fine, you were supposed to fall in love with me if you ever broke up with Aoyama, but instead you fell for the stupid alien," Ryou snarled.

"What the HELL made you think I would ever fall for you?" Ichigo asked incredulously. "You hated me from day one! You've never said one nice thing to me the entire time I've known you, and you expected me to fall in love with you? How stupid can you get?"

"I'm the only other human who would understand your cat genes," Ryou said, shrugging.

"That doesn't explain why you hate me, yet expect me to fall in love with you," Ichigo said. "Besides, Kish is ten million times what you'll ever be, and he loves me, unlike you. If you actually loved me, you'd have treated me better. You treated me like I was an insignificant piece of dirt. I could never love someone who treated me like that."

Ryou looked shocked, but before he could respond, there were footsteps on the stairs, and a bunch of police officers ran in. They stopped dead when they saw Ichigo and Kisshu, and the leader of them said, "So what's the story? We got a call from Momomiya Sakura saying that the owner of Café Mew Mew had kidnapped her husband and was going to kill him."

"I was only going to kill him if Ichigo here refused to be my girlfriend," Ryou said. "Which she did, but you jerks got here before I could kill him."

"Well, we're definitely taking you in after that little confession," the leader said.

Ryou took out a gun and said, "Try it."

Kisshu just snapped his fingers, and the gun disappeared and then reappeared in his hand. He snapped it in half, threw the pieces on the floor, and looked at Ryou. "Any other brilliant ideas, Blondie?" he asked. When Ryou didn't respond, Kisshu snapped his fingers again, and Ryou was suddenly tied up. Kisshu turned to the now-speechless police officers, and said, "Now you don't need those weird metal bracelets."

"Uh… right," the leader said, snapping out of shock. "Nobu, Sawajiro, get Shirogane and take him back to the cells. I'll stay here. I think we need to know a little more before we decide exactly how long he'll be in jail."

The two officers named saluted and dragged Ryou off, as the leader turned to Ichigo. Kisshu was currently untying Shintaro and Keiichiro.

"You're Mew Ichigo, correct?" the officer asked.

"Hai," Ichigo said.

"I've got two questions," the officer said.

"Okay," Ichigo said.

"How did you know about this plot?" the officer asked.

Ichigo sighed and touched her pendant, returning to normal. "Hey, aren't you Miwa's friend?" the officer asked.

"Yes, are you her dad?" Ichigo asked.

"No, I'm her uncle," the officer said. "What's going on? And if you're Mew Ichigo, why are you with an alien?"

"Kisshu is my boyfriend, and my parents adopted him," Ichigo said. "The Mews and aliens are trying to form a truce."

"Okay, now I'm getting a headache," the officer said.

"I think I should explain," Keiichiro said from behind Ichigo. "Officer, let the kids and Shintaro go home, I can tell you everything. Provided you don't reveal Ichigo or Kisshu's identities to the general public. If that happens, they'll most likely be in mortal danger."

The officer sighed. "Fine… I'm never going to hear the end of it if I arrest my niece's best friends anyways," he said. "I'll listen, and the kids and Mr. Momomiya can head out."

"Thank you," Shintaro said. He turned to Ichigo and Kisshu and said, "Let's get in the car, Ryou tried to steal that as well."

"K," Ichigo said. She and Kisshu followed Shintaro out as the police officer started talking with Keiichiro.

They got to Shintaro's car, and Kisshu took one look at it, then flinched. "I am NOT getting in there," he said. "I'll just teleport home."

"Suit yourself, but you might want to get used to it a little before Sakura takes you shopping," Shintaro said. "There's too many people at the mall for you to teleport safely."

"Oh, fine," Kisshu said.

"I'll sit in the back with you," Ichigo said. She got in, and Kisshu got in on the other side. They closed their doors, and Kisshu immediately said, "It's small in here…"

"Compared to Dad's last car, this isn't bad," Ichigo said. "Are you claustrophobic?"

"Not usually," Kisshu said.

"Put your seatbelt on," Ichigo said. "Do you need help?"

"No," Kisshu said, and put the seatbelt on. Shintaro started the car, and Kisshu jumped. Ichigo took his hand, which sort of calmed him down.

"Maybe it'll help if you close your eyes," Ichigo suggested.

Kisshu closed his eyes, leaning his head back as Shintaro drove them home. They managed to make it home without Kisshu freaking out, but he was now very unhappy with the idea of going shopping.

As soon as they got inside, Sakura came running and started hugging the life out of Shintaro. "Okay… I know you're happy I'm safe, but I can't breathe," Shintaro told her.

Sakura let him go- slightly- and said, "You're really okay?"

"Yep," Shintaro said. "Thanks to these two."

"Dad, I didn't do anything besides tell Ryou he's an evil blonde bastard who I would never go out with," Ichigo said. "Kisshu's the one you should be thanking. He snapped Ryou's gun in half and tied him up, and he untied you and Keiichiro."

"Uh… right… Thanks Kisshu," Shintaro said.

Kisshu, though now totally shocked, said, "Sure." Then he turned to Sakura and said, "Can Ichigo come shopping with us? I don't like cars."

"Well, I did call her in sick, so I suppose," Sakura said. "Shintaro, go find something in your closet that will fit Kisshu."

"I can find shirts, but I'm guessing all my jeans are too big for him- WAY too big," Shintaro said.

"I've got a pair of black pants," Ichigo said. "Dad can find a shirt, and we'll see if Kisshu can wear my pants."

"Okay," Shintaro said. He went to his and Sakura's room, and Kisshu followed Ichigo to her room.

Ichigo started digging through a drawer, and eventually pulled out a pair of black slacks. "These are technically dress pants, but since they're most likely the only ones in this house you can wear, here," Ichigo said, handing him the slacks.

"Thanks, Koneko-chan," Kisshu said.

Shintaro came in and said, "Here's a shirt. Have you taken a shower yet?"

"No," Kisshu said.

"Then go get clean, and put on the clothes," Shintaro said.

"Okay, thanks," Kisshu said, taking the green shirt. He picked up the pants, and went to the bathroom to shower.

About fifteen minutes later, he came back fully dressed and with his hairbands back in. Ichigo looked up and smiled. "Hi Kish, did you have a nice shower?" she asked.

"I saw more kinds of shampoo in there than in my entire life," Kisshu said. "Humans sure have it nice."

"Not all of us do, but I'm lucky," Ichigo said. "There are a lot of homeless people, and people who can barely afford to feed themselves. But Dad's job is pretty high-paying, so we're pretty lucky."

"I like it here," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled. "Me too. Should we go downstairs?"

"K," Kisshu said.

Ichigo took his hand again, and he curled his fingers around hers. She looked back, surprised, and he started to pull away, but she smiled brightly and pulled him back. "That's the first time you've held my hand too," Ichigo said happily. "Before we go shopping, can I have a kiss?"

Kisshu looked startled. "You're asking ME if I can kiss you?" he asked.

Before Ichigo could apologize, Kisshu pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Ichigo sighed happily, closing her eyes and kissing back with equal passion as she wrapped her arms around Kisshu's neck.

Unfortunately for them, Shintaro had come to see what was taking them so long, and he walked in on them kissing. "NO KISSING!" he shouted.

There was a loud POOF, and Kisshu turned into a kitten again. Ichigo sighed. "Dad, don't startle us like that. Especially seeing as Kish has no control over his cat genes. You shouting startled him enough that he turned into a cat again. Besides, what's wrong with kissing?"

"Never mind…" Shintaro grumbled. "So how do you turn him back again?"

"I get to kiss him again!" Ichigo said perkily.

"I think he has other ideas," Shintaro said, pointing to Ichigo's pillow. Kisshu was curled up on it, sleeping. "How does he fall asleep that fast?" Shintaro asked.

"I do the same," Ichigo said. "It's a cat thing." She sat down on the bed, and started scratching Kisshu's ears. He started purring in his sleep.

"Aww… that's so cute," Sakura said as she came in. "I suppose this means I should go shopping alone?"

"Can you do that? Or do you need Kish there?" Ichigo asked."

"I'll be fine, I just thought he might want to come," Sakura said. "Do you know what his favorite colors are?"

"Green and black," Ichigo said.

"Okay, I'll look for those colors," Sakura said. "I'll wait on buying school shoes. See you soon."

"Bye Mom," Ichigo said. She went back to scratching Kisshu's ears as he slept. He continued purring as Shintaro left.

Kisshu didn't wake up for about two hours, by which point Ichigo was a bit worried. She knew cats needed a lot of sleep, but she was still worried. Then she noticed Kisshu was stirring. "Kish? Are you okay?" she asked.

"_My stomach feels funny, can you turn me back?" _Kisshu asked.

Ichigo immediately kissed Kisshu on the nose, and he turned back. Then he ran out, and Ichigo heard a door close. She assumed it was the bathroom door, since about a minute later, she heard Kisshu throw up. _I hope he doesn't have some kind of stomach bug, _she thought worriedly. She heard Kisshu stop throwing up, and knocked on the door. "Kish, are you feeling any better?" she asked.

"I think I just ate something bad," Kisshu said. "My stomach feels better now."

Suddenly Ichigo started feeling sick. "Can I come in? I think the milk might have been bad, 'cause now I'm not feeling good," she said.

"Yeah, come in," Kisshu said. Ichigo opened the door, closing it behind her as she felt her stomach lurch. She ran over to the toilet and threw up. She felt Kisshu gently rubbing her back as she got everything out. When she was finished, she realized her stomach was feeling a little better. "My stomach feels better now too," she said. "I guess it was just the milk. I'll go get rid of it."

"Okay," Kisshu said as he stood up and flushed the toilet.

Ichigo opened the door, and saw her dad. "Are you two okay?" he asked.

"I think the milk we had this morning was bad," Ichigo said.

"Go check the expiration date," Shintaro said. "I heard that there's a stomach bug going around, so it might not be the milk."

"Great…" Ichigo said, and went downstairs. Unfortunately, the milk didn't seem to be the problem; it wasn't supposed to expire till next week.

_Well, this doesn't look good, _Ichigo thought, going back upstairs.

Kisshu met her at the top of the stairs, and she said, "There shouldn't be anything wrong with the milk; did Dad tell you there's a stomach bug going around?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "I guess we've both got it, 'cause my stomach doesn't feel good again."

"I'm going to go talk to Dad, and tell him we've both most likely got the stomach bug," Ichigo said.

"I heard you," Shintaro called from his room. He came out and said, "I'd suggest picking one room or the other of yours to sleep in, since Sakura and I don't really want to get sick. And you might want to bring buckets in there so you don't have to run to the bathroom every time you feel sick."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Kisshu, I'll get the buckets, you might want to go back to the bathroom, you don't look too good."

Kisshu swallowed hard, nodded, and went back to the bathroom as Ichigo went to the hall closet and found two buckets. She went back to wait for Kisshu, and ask which room he'd rather be in.

Kisshu came out of the bathroom a minute later, and said, "Is it okay to stay in my room?"

"Sure, that's what I wanted to ask," Ichigo said. "Can you take the buckets there? My stomach's acting up again."

"Yeah," Kisshu said. Ichigo handed him the buckets, and went back to the bathroom, closing the door quickly before running to the toilet and throwing up again. When she was done, she went back to Kisshu's room.

**Nearly 9 pages! Please don't flame, even though Kisshu and Ichigo are sick. But please review!**


	7. Sick

**Neko Chapter 7:**

**Sick**

Ichigo found Kisshu sitting on the bed, staring at a picture in his hands. Ichigo came and sat down next to him, and he jumped a bit. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Ichigo said. "Who's the picture of?"

Kisshu sighed. "My parents and me as a baby," he said softly. He showed her the picture, and she said, "They look nice. Are they the reason for your two favorite colors?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Kisshu asked.

"Your mom's hair is green, and your dad's hair is black," Ichigo said.

"Yeah…" Kisshu said. He sighed again, and said, "They died in a rockslide when I was six. It was really hard for me, even though about half the people I knew had lost one or both of their parents, and I helped them get through it. I went into depression and wouldn't come out of my room after that. I had the nicest parents out of all my friends, and it was the hardest thing in the world knowing that I'd never see my mom smile or my dad laugh again. A lot of kids' dads' hit them to make lectures stick, but mine never did. And to this day, I've only met one person with the same personality as my mom. My mom was the kindest, most understanding person you'd ever meet. Your mom is exactly like her. I wish they could have met, I think they'd be good friends."

"Wow…" Ichigo said softly.

Kisshu smiled sadly. "I'm glad your mom adopted me," he said. "I wanted to be with you, but having her is great too. I never thought I'd meet anyone like my mom again."

"I'm glad you're happy here," Ichigo said. "Living with humans must not be easy."

"You and Sakura make it easy," Kisshu said with a grin. "Your dad, on the other hand…."

Ichigo laughed. "Yeah, he's a handful, as my mom says," she said. She noticed Kisshu's smile fading, and said, "What's wrong?"

"My stomach's not feeling good again," Kisshu said. "But I barely ate anything today."

"Did you bring the buckets in here?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, I put one on either side of the bed," Kisshu said. He leaned over his side and picked up a bucket as he felt his stomach lurch. He just had time to put it on his lap before throwing up. Ichigo started rubbing his back gently as he coughed stuff up. When he was finished, he sighed. "I don't feel good….." he said.

"I'm not feeling that great either," Ichigo said. "I'm getting a headache." She felt her stomach lurch, and quickly picked up the bucket on her side of the bed, throwing up into it. She felt Kisshu rubbing her back as she coughed stuff up. When she finished, she put the bucket down, and turned to Kisshu, who was shivering. "I thought it was almost summer, why is it so cold in here?" he asked.

Ichigo felt his forehead, and said, "It's not cold, you've got a fever, and that's causing you to feel cold. Maybe it'll help if you get under the covers."

Kisshu did so, and laid back. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and Ichigo called, "Come in!"

Sakura opened the door, and said, "Your dad told me you two are sick with that stomach bug."

"Yeah, and Kish's got a fever," Ichigo said. "He might have it worse; I just have a headache and my stomach feels awful."

Sakura came over and put her hand on Kisshu's forehead, and her eyes widened. "You're burning up," she said. "Can you take our medicine?"

"Yeah, but it's not going to help if I can't keep it down," Kisshu said.

"You're probably right," Sakura said worriedly. "I'm getting a cool cloth, try to get some rest. You too, Ichigo."

"K," Ichigo said, climbing under the covers with Kisshu. Sakura left and came back with a cold cloth, which she put over Kisshu's forehead.

"That's cold," he said.

"I know, but it should help keep your fever down," Sakura said. "Do you want me to find more blankets?"

"Yes please…" Kisshu said sleepily.

Sakura left again and came back with a stack of blankets, which she spread over both of them. Then she felt Ichigo's forehead. "Well, at least you don't have a fever," she said. "How's your stomach?"

"Not good, I think I'm going to-" Ichigo broke off as she grabbed the bucket and threw up again. She laid back when she was done, and said, "I'm tired…."

"Go to sleep," Sakura said. "Kisshu, how's your stomach?"

"I think it's a little better," Kisshu said. "I'm tired too, though."

"Okay," Sakura said. "You two get some sleep."

Ichigo and Kisshu settled back and were asleep pretty quickly.

Ichigo woke up a while later feeling sick again. She noticed Kisshu was still asleep, and felt bad that she was probably going to wake him up. She felt her stomach lurch, and grabbed the bucket right before she got sick again. She heard a soft groan behind her, and figured Kisshu was waking up. _I feel bad about waking him up, but there's not a lot I can do about it, _Ichigo thought as she coughed up more stuff. When she finished, she laid back and turned her head, seeing that Kisshu was half-awake. "Sorry I woke you," she said softly.

"I know you can't help it," Kisshu said sleepily. "I wonder why my stomach feels fine, but yours is really upset?"

"Some illnesses affect different people different ways," Ichigo said. "Maybe you got the fever part, and I got the stomach part."

"Well, maybe if my stomach feels fine, I can take medicine," Kisshu said. "I'll ask next time Sakura comes in. Right now I just want to go back to sleep."

"K," Ichigo said. "I'll try to be quieter next time."

"Don't worry about it," Kisshu said as he fell back to sleep. Ichigo eventually did the same.

Unfortunately, about three hours later, Ichigo started feeling sick again. And she quickly realized it was impossible to throw up quietly. When she thought she was finished, she put the bucket down, but had to grab it fast as she felt sick again. _This is awful, _she thought. _At this rate, neither of us will get much sleep._ She sighed when she was done, but when she turned back, she saw that Kisshu was still asleep. _He slept through that? _she wondered. She put a hand on his forehead, and immediately yanked it off. Even through the cloth Sakura had put on his forehead, Ichigo could feel that his skin was extremely hot.

Luckily for her, Sakura had decided to check on them, and Ichigo sighed when she saw her. "Mom, Kish's fever is worse," she said. "Last time he woke up, he said his stomach felt fine. I think he needs medicine."

Sakura came over and felt Kisshu's forehead. Her eyes widened. "This is _bad_," she said. "The fever medicine I have might not work on this. And we can't take him to the hospital, they'll tell the police."

"Go call Keiichiro, and tell him to contact Pai," Ichigo said. "Maybe he'll have something."

"On it," Sakura said, and ran out.

Ichigo heard her talking, and five minutes later, she came back. "We're in luck, Keiichiro and Pai were talking about something when I called," she said. "Pai's on his way."

"Good," Ichigo said.

About a minute later, Pai teleported into the room, and immediately put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. "You were right, he's in bad shape," Pai said. "I can heal him, but I might not have enough energy to heal you too, Ichigo."

"That's fine," Ichigo said. "I can go back to my room, so he won't get worse."

"Can you stay till he's awake at least?" Pai asked. "He tends to get a bit clingy if he's feeling sick."

"Okay, but my stomach still doesn't feel good, so I hope if I throw up again, it doesn't distract you," Ichigo said.

"I'll manage," Pai said, and put his other hand on Kisshu's chest. Both his hands began to glow, and Ichigo watched as Kisshu's breathing, which had been harsh, started to even out. It took more time for the color in his cheeks to go away, but eventually, the color left his face, and Pai took his hands away. "Ichigo, I have enough energy left to heal you as well, but I won't be able to teleport after," Pai said. "Can I stay here?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. "Do you want this room, or is my room okay? We only have three bedrooms."

"I don't even mind the couch, but I don't think it's good to move Kisshu," Pai said.

"Take my room," Ichigo said. "I don't mind."

"If you're sure," Pai said. "Lie back down, I'll heal you."

Ichigo obeyed, and Pai put a hand on her stomach and one over her heart. His hands began to glow, and Ichigo started to feel better. By the time Pai took his hands away, Ichigo realized she felt fine. "Thanks, Pai," Ichigo said after he took his hands away. "You should go rest, I'll tell my parents that you're spending the night in my room. Just close the door, or you might get my dad in there yelling at you if my mom can't stop him."

"Got it," Pai said, and left, followed by Ichigo. Pai went to her room while Ichigo went downstairs. Her parents were in the living room, and they looked up, startled. "Are you feeling better?" Shintaro asked.

"Yep, Pai healed me too, but I came to tell you that he can't teleport back, so he's spending the night in my room," Ichigo said.

"Okay," Sakura said. "Is Kisshu better?"

"I think he'll be fine when he wakes up," Ichigo said. "I'm going back to him; see you in the morning."

"K," her parents said. Ichigo waved and went back upstairs, then went back to Kisshu's room and carefully climbed in with him. She pulled the blankets up, and went to sleep herself.

The next morning, she woke up to find that Kisshu had, for some odd reason, turned back into a kitten. He was sitting next to her, looking frustrated. "Kish, what happened?" Ichigo asked.

"_I tried to kiss you while you were sleeping, and then I turned into a kitten again," _Kisshu said. _"And now the only thing I can think about is fish for some reason. Can you turn me back?"_

Ichigo giggled and kissed Kisshu on the nose, turning him back. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"I feel fine," Kisshu said. "What about you?"

"Fine, Pai healed both of us," Ichigo said. "You had a really bad fever yesterday, so I told Mom to call Keiichiro so he could contact Pai. Luckily Pai was talking with Keiichiro about something, so he got here fast. I wonder if he's up yet; I told him he could sleep over because he used up a lot of energy healing us."

"That was nice of you," Kisshu commented. "Is he downstairs?"

"No, my parents decided to watch TV all night, so I gave him my room, and came back in here to sleep with you," Ichigo said. "I like sleeping with you."

Kisshu smiled. "I like sleeping with you too," he said. "It's comfy."

Ichigo giggled, and Kisshu blushed. Ichigo noticed, and said, "That is so CUTE!"

"What is?" Kisshu asked.

"You blushing," Ichigo said. She sighed, and said, "I wish you didn't have to use those pills, I think your ears are adorable."

"Y-you do?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo smiled happily. "Yep!" she said. "Come on, let's get some breakfast." She got up and pulled Kisshu up as well. They walked downstairs holding hands, headed for the kitchen.

**Horrendous chapter ending. Please review anyways.**


	8. Moe and Miwa

**Neko Chapter 8:**

**Moe and Miwa**

Kisshu and Ichigo walked downstairs hand in hand, and went to the kitchen. Sakura, Shintaro and Pai were all in there, and looked up as they came in. "You're both feeling better?" Pai asked.

"Yeah, thanks for healing us," Kisshu said. "So what's up?"

"I'm going to go back and talk more with Keiichiro, we've been trying to get a truce together," Pai said. "Deep Blue's human host is going to be a problem though."

"Who is it?" Ichigo asked.

"Aoyama Masaya," Pai said. "And I think Deep Blue may already have him; I can't find him on Earth."

"That's not good," Ichigo said. "If Deep Blue already has him, doesn't that mean we're going to have to fight him rather than just killing Aoyama, who would probably be pretty easy?"

Pai sighed. "Most likely," he said. "We need to get to that dimension before he can come to Earth. I'm going back to Keiichiro, and we'll let you know when we're attacking."

"Okay," Kisshu said. Pai nodded, bowed to Ichigo's parents, and teleported out. Kisshu sighed. "This isn't going to be easy," he said.

"We'll get through it," Ichigo said. "Now that we're forming a truce, there's more of us to defeat him."

Kisshu looked at her and smiled. "I love your positive attitude," he said.

Ichigo blushed. "Thanks Kish," she said. "I love everything about you."

Kisshu blushed, and Ichigo smiled happily.

"Do you two want breakfast?" Shintaro asked.

"What is there?" Ichigo asked.

"Blueberry muffins," Sakura said. "They're still warm."

"YUM!" Ichigo said. "How many can we have?"

"Two each," Sakura said. "And seeing as it's already 11, I called you in sick again."

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said. "Kish, do you want muffins?"

"Are they sweet?" Kisshu asked.

"Yep," Ichigo said. "They're tasty."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "I'll try them."

Ichigo happily got out two plates, and put a muffin on each. Then she handed Kisshu one of the plates, and sat down with the other. Kisshu took a bite of his and said, "This is great!"

Ichigo smiled, and said, "I love blueberry muffins."

When they finished breakfast, they went back to Ichigo's room. "What should we do now?" Kisshu asked.

"Tickle each other?" Ichigo suggested.

"DEFINITELY NOT," Kisshu said. Noticing Ichigo looked a bit hurt, he continued, "I'm really ticklish, and doing it too much hurts me."

"Oh, sorry," Ichigo said. "I didn't know that. So is there something you'd like to do?"

Kisshu smirked, and asked, "Wanna see how long we can kiss without air?"

"Yeah!" Ichigo said excitedly. She kissed him, and he kissed back, looking at the clock before letting his eyes slide shut. _Wow, she's good at this, _he thought.

Ichigo was thinking the exact same thing. It was about nine minutes before they broke it off, breathing hard. Kisshu looked at the clock and said breathlessly, "Nine minutes. You're good at this, Koneko-chan."

"So are you, Kish," Ichigo said happily. "That was much better than that first time."

Kisshu looked a bit puzzled, and Ichigo said, "You don't remember when we first met?"

Kisshu looked sheepish, and said, "Sorry, I thought you meant the first time you kissed me back, which was the day before yesterday."

Ichigo giggled. "Nope, I meant when you jumped off that clock tower, kissed me, and _then _decided to introduce yourself. Funny way to introduce yourself to someone you don't even know. You're so cute."

Kisshu smirked. "That kiss _was_ my way of introducing myself," he said. "Telling you my name was just a bonus."

"Most people tell the person they're introducing themselves to their name first," Ichigo said. "You're very spontaneous, aren't you?"

Kisshu continued smirking as he said, "Yup, and proud of it."

Ichigo giggled again, and said, "You're so CUTE, Kish!"

Kisshu smiled and said, "I'm glad you think so. You're totally cute yourself."

Ichigo blushed and was about to say more, when her cell phone rang. Groaning, she picked up and said, "Hi Miwa, what's up?"

"_Some girl is trying to convince the school that Aoyama disappeared because you killed him," _Miwa said. _"We beat her to a pulp, but the kendo team is convinced now. Why haven't you been in school, anyways?"_

"I caught a stomach bug," Ichigo said. "What should we do?"

"_Unfortunately, we can't beat up the kendo team because of some tournament they need to be ready for," _Miwa said. _"We might as well just let this play out, but if anyone besides the kendo team insults you, we'll beat them up. If anyone on the kendo team physically hurts you, we'll make sure they'll never do kendo again, but other than that there's not a lot we can do besides warn them."_

"You could tell them that their girlfriends can go down instead of them," Ichigo suggested.

"_Great idea!" _Miwa said. _"We'll get right on that. When will you be back?"_

"Tomorrow, unfortunately," Ichigo said. "Do you want me to come back the next day instead?"

"_No, we'll go hijack the loudspeakers," _Miwa said. _"See you tomorrow!" _ She hung up, and Ichigo sighed.

"What's up?" Kisshu asked.

"Miwa says that the kendo team is now convinced that I killed Aoyama," Ichigo said. "And they're getting ready for some tournament, which means Moe and Miwa can't beat them too badly. I said that telling them their girlfriends could go down instead would work to keep them from hurting me, but now Miwa's about hijack the school's loudspeaker system to announce this idea. They are going to be in SO much trouble, and it's all my fault!"

"It wasn't your idea to hijack the loudspeakers, so it's not ALL your fault," Kisshu said. "And it was their decision to go along with your plan, so don't feel like you're completely responsible if they get in trouble."

"Mmph," Ichigo said.

"We'll wait and see what happens," Kisshu said. "It probably won't be that bad, it's not like they'll go to jail."

"Who's going to jail?" Sakura asked, coming in.

"Hopefully not Moe and Miwa," Ichigo said gloomily.

"Uh-oh, what happened this time?" Sakura asked.

"You do not want to know," Ichigo said.

"That bad?" Sakura asked.

"Yup," Ichigo said gloomily. "I'll probably never see them again after this; they'll be grounded for eternity and suspended for a month."

"Is this a 'I should call the school and tell them before it happens' thing?" Sakura asked- just as the house phone rang.

"You're probably too late," Ichigo said. "That's probably the principal."

They heard Shintaro pick up, then shout, "They did WHAT!?"

"Oh boy," Ichigo sighed. "They're doomed. And so am I."

Shintaro was heard hanging up the phone and coming upstairs. "What happened?" Sakura asked.

"They've been suspended for the last two weeks of school, and the first two weeks of next school year," Shintaro said gloomily. "But the principal thinks that the problem will be solved by letting Ichigo out early this year. Apparently the kendo team thinks that Ichigo killed Aoyama, and are out to get her. And they have a big tournament, so Moe and Miwa can't beat them up. They seem to have come up with another idea, however. They announced over the loudspeaker system that anyone on the kendo team who hurt Ichigo, physically or emotionally, would be dooming their girlfriend. Somehow they locked themselves into the room where the loudspeakers are, and one of them held the door while the other made the announcement. Every teacher in the school ran to the office and they were waiting when Moe and Miwa came out. Why those two forgot about the ventilation shafts is beyond me."

Sakura sighed. "We really shouldn't have told them Ichigo was fragile…." she said.

"If we hadn't, Ichigo would probably be scarred for life or dead," Shintaro said. "You know how fragile she was back then; if we hadn't told them to be careful with her, she could have been seriously injured. We did the right thing; they just went too far with it."

Sakura just sighed. "So Ichigo is out early?" she asked.

"Yep, and they'll be sending us the summer homework," Shintaro said. "At least Ichigo won't have to deal with the kendo team."

"That's a plus, and I can spend more time with Kish," Ichigo said. "Too bad I probably can't go shopping with Moe and Miwa at all this summer; they'll get grounded for sure."

"Oh well, at least they didn't get expelled," Sakura said.

"Good point," Ichigo said. "On a happier note, Kish and I can kiss for nine minutes without taking a break for air."

"You are insane," Shintaro said.

"No, we just wanted to see how long we could go without air," Ichigo said. "I don't think that makes us insane."

Shintaro just sighed and left muttering about 'weird teenage hobbies'.

Sakura giggled and said, "You two have fun. I'll go make some apple crisp."

Kisshu's eyes lit up, and Ichigo smiled. "You like that idea?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Kisshu said dreamily.

"You're drooling," Ichigo commented.

Kisshu turned red and wiped his mouth. "Uh… sorry," he said.

"It's fine," Ichigo said. Sakura left, closing the door behind her as Ichigo said, "What now?"

"I don't know," Kisshu said. "Why does being in sunlight make me sleepy?"

"It's a cat thing," Ichigo said. "Cats like napping in sunbeams. And cats need 19 hours of sleep a day. It's good that I'm not more than half cat."

"Yeah..." Kisshu said, sounding sleepy.

"Do you want to go to sleep?" Ichigo asked.

"Will you stay?" Kisshu asked.

"Of course," Ichigo said.

Kisshu laid back, and was asleep almost immediately. Ichigo started stroking his hair, and he made a happy noise, leaning into her hand. Suddenly he began to glow, and changed back into a kitten. Ichigo, though surprised, started rubbing his ears, smiling as he purred. Soon his purring put her to sleep as well.

**I hope you like this, because I wrote it at midnight. Please review while I get some rest….**


	9. Stuck!

**Neko Chapter 9:**

**Stuck!**

A few hours later, Kisshu woke up and saw Ichigo asleep next to him. He also immediately noticed he had turned back into a kitten. _Great…._ he thought. _How did it happen this time? Maybe it has something to do with sleeping. Although it doesn't happen to Ichigo, but she has some control over her cat genes. I don't. Maybe that's the problem. _Suddenly he smelled something good.

He followed the smell downstairs, and to the kitchen. Sakura was in there, cooking what smelled like fish stew. She didn't seem to notice him, so he went over and poked her leg. She looked down, startled, and said, "Kisshu, how'd you turn into a kitten again?"

Kisshu shook his head, his ears drooping. "You don't know?" Sakura asked. Kisshu nodded, then pointed to the pot of fish stew. "That's not ready yet," Sakura said. "And you'll burn your tongue, it's very hot. That's dinner, so you can have some then. Why don't you go ask Ichigo to turn you back?"

Kisshu's ears drooped a bit, then he leaped onto the counter, looking at the pot curiously. "Kisshu! No kittens allowed on the counter!" Sakura said. "And you're going to burn yourself if you're not careful." She picked him up, cradling him in her arms, and took him upstairs. Kisshu started purring, getting comfortable in her arms. Sakura took him to Ichigo's room, where Ichigo was waking up.

"Ichigo, I think you should turn Kisshu back to normal," Sakura said as Ichigo sat up. "He's being a little too curious about the fish stew."

"You're making fish stew?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

"Yes, and Kisshu on the counter is not helping," Sakura sighed.

"He fell asleep in your arms," Ichigo commented. "I think he likes it there."

Sakura looked down at Kisshu, who was asleep, happily curled up against her. "So he's scared of your dad, but really likes me?" Sakura asked.

"Kish said you remind him of his mom," Ichigo said. "Apparently you've got the exact same personality. And since he's in a form where he likes being held, he probably loves being held by you."

"I'm like his mom?" Sakura asked softly.

"That's what he said," Ichigo said. "I'll go finish the fish stew. You stay with him."

"Okay, it should be ready, so just turn off the stove," Sakura said. "And put the lid on, it'll stay warmer that way."

"Okay," Ichigo said, and left, smiling.

Sakura sat down on Ichigo's bed, still holding Kisshu, who was purring softly. She put him on her lap, scratching his ears, and he curled up with a little sigh. Ichigo came back and quietly sat down with them, watching Kisshu curled up on Sakura's lap.

A little while later, Shintaro came in to see why there was no one downstairs, and looked startled when Sakura and Ichigo both put a finger to their lips. "Kisshu's sleeping," Sakura said softly.

"Is he sick?" Shintaro asked.

"No, he likes Mom holding him," Ichigo said softly.

"Why is he a kitten again?" Shintaro asked.

"We're not sure," Sakura said. "And he's not sure either."

Suddenly there was a warping sound in the room, and Pai appeared.

"What's up?" Ichigo asked quietly. "And keep it down, Kish is asleep."

"If he's in kitten form, I'm too late," Pai said grimly.

"What does that mean?" Sakura asked.

"Kisshu's cat genes are from licking blood off Ichigo's cheek," Pai said. "But I think Deep Blue wants to make sure he can't fight. Kisshu is a kitten now because Deep Blue activated his cat genes to make him stay in kitten form. And there's no way to turn him back. Kissing him won't work this time. On top of that, I think the attack is going to be tomorrow, and we have to make sure that it doesn't happen. We need to go now, Ichigo. I've already called Taruto and the other Mews together, so as soon as you transform, I can teleport you to the Café."

"Okay, but what about Kish?" Ichigo asked.

"We'll have to do it without him," Pai said grimly.

"We'll take care of him," Sakura said. "Are you going to find a way to turn him back?"

"Hai, but I can't until Deep Blue is dead," Pai said. "And I'd suggest not letting anyone in until we get back. I don't think it's a good idea for Kisshu to be around anyone but you two right now. I wouldn't recommend telling him where Ichigo is either. He'll freak out."

"Alright," Sakura said. "Be careful."

"We will," Ichigo said, and took her pendant out, then transformed. Pai took her by the shoulder, and teleported to Café Mew Mew.

The other Mews, Taruto and Keiichiro were waiting, and Pai told them, "I was too late, we're going to have to do this without Kisshu."

"We'll manage," Zakuro said.

"Alright, all of you grab one of us," Pai said. The Mews obeyed, and Pai and Taruto teleported them to what looked like a throne room. They tensed as a tall Cyniclon with ice blue eyes, calf-length black hair, and a dark blue robe walked toward them.

"I'm surprised you had the nerve to come," Deep Blue said smugly. "Without Kisshu, you don't stand a chance."

"We're going to take you down regardless of whether Kisshu is here or not," Ichigo snarled.

"Try it then," Deep Blue smirked, and took out a large sword. The Mews, Pai and Taruto took out their weapons as well, and scattered as Deep Blue lunged.

Ichigo looked at Zakuro, who got the idea and lashed out with her light whip, wrapping it around Deep Blue's wrist. She looked at Taruto, who threw his click-clack weapon, immobilizing Deep Blue. Ichigo looked at Lettuce, who performed her Lettuce Rush attack at the same time Ichigo aimed the most powerful Strawberry Surprise she had ever used at Deep Blue. The two attacks combined, and Deep Blue was reduced to a pile of soggy ash. In the middle of the pile was a large ball of Mew Aqua. They all looked at each other, and Ichigo said, "I am not putting my hand in there."

Everyone except Pai nodded, and then said as one, "Make Pai do it."

Pai sighed and picked up the ball of Mew Aqua. "All of you grab on," he sighed.

The Mews obeyed, and Pai and Taruto teleported them to the basement of Café Mew Mew. Keiichiro was pacing around nervously, and jumped when he heard the teleportation. "How'd it go?" he asked. "Are you all okay?"

"We're all fine, and Deep Blue is a pile of soggy ash," Pai said. "We also got enough Mew Aqua to save our planet, so we can go do that. We might need to come back after, though. It's very likely that we'll get exiled."

"You two can have the spare rooms," Keiichiro said. "Now that Ryou's in jail, I've got two."

"Thank you," Pai said. "Before we go, I guess I should find a way to turn Kisshu back to normal."

"Good plan," Ichigo said. "Can you take me home?"

"Sure," Pai said, putting the Mew Aqua down and taking her shoulder. Then he teleported back to her room.

Sakura was still in there, petting Kisshu, and looked up. "How'd it go?" she asked.

"Deep Blue is dead, and we have the means to save our planet," Pai said. "Before we go back, I think I need to find some way of turning Kisshu back. "How's he doing?"

"He seems a bit sad," Sakura said. "He woke up a while ago, and I told him Ichigo had to go somewhere, and she'd be back soon. Now he's asleep again, though. I think being petted puts him to sleep."

Pai sighed. "I'd better tell him what's going on," he said, and tapped Kisshu's forehead gently. Kisshu stirred, then opened his eyes. "Nyaa…" he said disgruntledly. Pai sighed. "I know you like sleeping, but I need to tell you what's going on," he said. "Deep Blue is dead; Ichigo and Lettuce killed him. Unfortunately, I think you're stuck as a kitten for right now. I'm going to go find a way to turn you back, unless you want to see if Ichigo kissing you does work."

"I'll try," Ichigo said. She picked Kisshu up, and kissed him on the nose. A minute later, she broke it off, but nothing happened.

"I was afraid of that," Pai sighed. "I'm going back to my lab; I promise I'll do my best to figure this out. Until then, you're going to have to tough it out, Kisshu."

Kisshu drooped in Ichigo's arms. Pai sighed again and teleported out. Ichigo cradled Kisshu in her arms, and said, "We'll help you get through this, Kish. And I'm sure Pai will figure something out."

Kisshu just sighed. Sakura looked at them and said, "It's dinnertime, maybe some fish stew would cheer him up?"

"Kish, do you want some fish stew?" Ichigo asked.

"_I guess," _Kisshu said. _"It smelled good earlier."_

"He would like some," Ichigo said. "Can we give him some?"

"Sure," Sakura said. "Come on downstairs."

Ichigo carried Kisshu downstairs, and set him down next to the table. Then she went to get bowls, and Kisshu followed her. He followed her around until she sat down at the table with Sakura and Shintaro. Then Sakura put a little dish of fish stew in front of him, and he sniffed it, then began lapping it up. He was done well before Ichigo and her parents, and asked, _"Can I have more?"_

Sakura looked at Ichigo, who said, "Kish would like some more fish stew."

"Hungry tonight, huh?" Sakura asked. Kisshu nodded, and Sakura put some more fish stew in his dish. He immediately began lapping it up. Ichigo and Sakura smiled, and Sakura said, "I'm glad you like it, Kisshu."

Kisshu purred and went back to eating. "Well, at least he seems a bit more cheerful," Ichigo said, watching as Kisshu finished up the fish stew. "I wonder if he can eat chocolate mousse?"

"Maybe… it's mostly cream," Sakura said.

"I had a cat as a kid that would eat chocolate ice cream," Shintaro said. "She would jump on top of the freezer, lie in wait, and then attack the first person to take out the chocolate ice cream. Then she'd run off with it. My sister's friend made that mistake, and you should have heard her scream when Haru jumped on her head, went into the freezer, grabbed the ice cream, and ran off with it. We eventually had to stop buying it, since Haru would eat it all. And no one wanted hairy ice cream. Haru would stick her face into the container, and start eating. She left off when we switched to vanilla fudge ripple, though. She hated vanilla for some reason. I think chocolate mousse is fine."

"Okay, but only a little," Sakura said. She took the dish away from Kisshu, and went to wash it. A few minutes later, she returned with a small amount of chocolate mousse, and said, "This is all, k?"

Kisshu's ears drooped, but he nodded, and started eating. Sakura got some mousse for herself, Shintaro and Ichigo, and they sat down to eat as Kisshu finished. Kisshu left the empty dish and went to Sakura, then curled up on her lap. "Shintaro will be doing dishes tonight," she said.

"Why me?" Shintaro asked.

"Ichigo and I will be in her room playing with Kisshu," Sakura said brightly. "And since he's scared of you, you'll be better off in the kitchen. I cooked anyways."

"Why is he scared of me?" Shintaro asked sulkily. "What did I do wrong this time?"

"You proclaimed that you hate all boys that want to date me," Ichigo said. "Therefore, he thinks you hate him, and seeing as he's a lot smaller than you right now, he's probably going to run away every time he sees you."

Shintaro sighed, and Sakura said, "I warned you about saying you hate boys. I had a feeling it would come back to bite you, and it did. I honestly don't know why you're so dead set against boys anyways, I heard you were pretty strange before I met you."

"Oh no…." Shintaro said.

Sakura smirked and said, "Kisshu, Ichigo, do you want to hear a funny story?"

They nodded, and Sakura said, "Before I met your dad, he had a crush on another girl, who didn't like him very much because her boyfriend was nicer. Instead of trying to change his ways, Shintaro would follow her around everywhere. He literally became her personal stalker. The odd thing was, even though she knew he was stalking her, she never called the police. Instead, she introduced him to me, since we were best friends. And to her pleasure, your dad fell head over heels for me, and stopped stalking her. And she and I still laugh over that to this day."

Kisshu and Ichigo were rolling around on the floor laughing, and it didn't help when Shintaro buried his face in his hands and asked, "Did you have to tell them that story?"

"Yep," Sakura said with a rather evil smile.

"Dad, you sound like Kisshu before we got together," Ichigo gasped out. "Kisshu used to stalk me like that. And his favorite hangout is that tree outside my window. I can't believe you complain about boys if you were that much like Kisshu!"

"Kisshu was stalking you?" Shintaro asked rather disgruntledly.

"I had no idea you two had so much in common," Ichigo giggled. "I can't wait to tell my friends this!"

"I'm doomed…." Shintaro said. "But Kisshu better stop stalking you, or he'll be in for a world of trouble."

Kisshu stopped snickering and started shrinking away from Shintaro, snuggling against Sakura. "You scared him again," Sakura said, picking Kisshu up and cradling him in her arms. "Now you will also be clearing the table, while Ichigo and I take Kisshu upstairs."

Shintaro groaned as Sakura and Ichigo got up and went up to Ichigo's room, Sakura carrying Kisshu.

**I like fluff, and now Deep Blue is gone too! Review plz!**


	10. Turning Back

**Neko Chapter 10:**

**Turning Back**

Sakura and Ichigo took Kisshu back to Ichigo's room, and sat down on the bed, Sakura holding Kisshu. Kisshu had fallen back to sleep in her arms, and was purring softly. "He's getting really attached to you, Mom," Ichigo said softly.

"I think it's cute," Sakura said. "It kind of reminds me of you as a baby. You wouldn't let anyone but me hold you, even your dad. If someone else held you, you'd start wailing. You eventually got to a point where you'd let your dad hold you, but you still preferred me, and anyone else holding you didn't work out too well. It was kind of hard on my parents and your dad's parents, because you didn't like it when they held you. I'm glad Kisshu lets you hold him, I think it would be kind of hard for you if you couldn't hold him."

"Yeah, I'd get sad again," Ichigo said. "It's good that you're so much like his mom, it can't be easy living with humans. The first time he met Moe and Miwa, he was scared of them. That's why I was so insistent on him having time to get used to humans and human life before going to school."

"I guess it would be kind of culture shock," Sakura said. "And seeing as you got out early, it worked out for the best. I think he'd get bored without you around."

Ichigo grinned. "Considering his favorite activity is kissing me, I'd say you're right," she said.

They both noticed Kisshu was stirring, and Sakura asked gently, "Did you have a nice nap?"

"_Yeah… you're comfy," _Kisshu said.

Ichigo giggled. "Kisshu said "Yeah, you're comfy," she told Sakura.

Sakura giggled, and said, "I'm glad you like me, Kisshu."

Kisshu purred happily. Suddenly there was a warping sound in the room, and Pai appeared. "Hey Pai, what's up?" Ichigo asked.

"I think I figured out a way to turn Kisshu back to normal, but I need him to come to the lab," Pai said. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. "But I think Mom should come too; Kisshu's getting seriously attached to her."

"Okay," Pai said. Then he took both of them by the shoulder, and teleported to his lab. As soon as they landed, Pai said, "The machine is over here, come with me."

Ichigo and Sakura followed Pai to a machine that looked like a tube with a bunch of wires attached. Kisshu squeaked when he saw it. Pai sighed and said, "Yes, I know it's a bit small, but you want to go back to normal, right?"

Kisshu nodded, and Pai said, "This machine will turn you back. Sakura, can you put him in there?"

"Okay," Sakura said, and carried Kisshu over to the machine. She put him down inside it, and Pai pressed a button, closing the tube. Kisshu immediately started wailing.

Pai sighed, and said, "Kisshu, you have to stay calm if this process is to work. I know you don't like small spaces, but this is the only way. So sit still, and wait a minute."

Kisshu just continued wailing, and Sakura said softly, "Kisshu, I'll be here, k? Calm down, and you can go back to normal. Then you can come out."

Kisshu started to calm down, and looked at Sakura, who smiled reassuringly. Kisshu settled down, and Pai pressed a button on the control panel. Kisshu began to glow, and as they watched, he turned back into a Cyniclon. When the glow faded, Pai pressed another button, and the tube opened up.

Kisshu stepped out, and sighed. "Thanks Pai, thanks Sakura," he said.

"Sure," Sakura said with a smile.

Pai sighed and said, "I wasn't able to erase your cat genes, but I managed to make sure you'll never get stuck again. But you still have the ability to turn into a kitten, and it's possible you'll be like Ichigo and you'll get cat ears and a tail if you're startled."

"Great…" Kisshu said. "Is there some reason you can't erase my cat genes?"

"Because it would most likely kill you," Pai said. "For some reason, the cat genes have melded with your DNA, making it impossible to take them out. If I erase your cat genes, I'll basically be erasing your DNA, and that will kill you."

Kisshu groaned. Ichigo sighed. "Kish, I learned to live with it, I'm sure you can too," she said.

Kisshu glared at her and teleported. Ichigo felt like Kisshu had ripped her heart out with that glare. She started crying. Sakura came over and hugged her. "I'm sure Kish is just going through a hard time," Sakura said softly. "When you found out you had cat genes, how did you react?"

"Not well…" Ichigo mumbled.

"See? He's probably just unhappy right now," Sakura said. "I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you."

"Do you two want to go home?" Pai asked.

"Yes please," Sakura said.

Pai took them both by the shoulder, and teleported to Ichigo's room. Kisshu wasn't there, and Pai sighed, then closed his eyes briefly. "He's in Inohara Park, in the sakura tree," Pai said. "Do you want me to drag him back?"

Sakura looked at Ichigo, who was still crying, and said, "Yes, can you do that?"

"I'll be right back," Pai said, and teleported out. Ten minutes later, he came back with Kisshu in tow.

Kisshu immediately looked worried when he saw Ichigo with her face buried in Sakura's shoulder. Sakura sighed and said, "She started crying when you glared at her. And she won't calm down."

Kisshu hesitantly came over and sat with them. "Koneko-chan?" he asked softly.

"Kish? Do you still love me?" Ichigo asked.

"Of course," Kisshu said. "I'll always love you. I'm sorry for getting upset, I know it's not your fault. I didn't have to lick the blood off your cheek, so it's really my fault."

"So you're not going to leave?" Ichigo asked. She sounded a bit frantic, and Kisshu started stroking her hair to calm her down.

"I promised, remember?" he asked softly. "I'll never leave you, k?"

Ichigo looked at him. Then she let go of Sakura and hesitantly reached out toward Kisshu. He smiled and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She hugged back, a bit more cheerful. Sakura and Pai quietly left as Ichigo started to fall asleep in Kisshu's arms. Kisshu noticed, and laid back, still holding Ichigo. She snuggled against him, and started purring. Eventually her purring put him to sleep as well.

The next morning, they both woke up to Ichigo's cell phone ringing. Ichigo looked at the caller ID and said, "Morning Miwa. What's up?"

"_We didn't get grounded, I was wondering if there have been any alien abductions lately," _Miwa said.

"Not that I know of, but isn't not getting grounded a good thing?" Ichigo asked.

"_Yeah, but it's seriously freaky at the same time," _Miwa said. _"We got suspended for a solid month, and our parents just sighed and said, "We give up. You two are a lost cause."_

"So does that mean we can hang out?" Ichigo asked eagerly.

"_Sure," _Miwa said. _"Are you bringing Kisshu?"_

"If that's okay, he needs to learn more about being human anyways," Ichigo said.

"_That's fine," _Miwa said. _"Can we go to the mall?"_

"I think so," Ichigo said. "Where do you want to meet?"

"_How about that that little café with the big cinnamon rolls?" _Miwa asked. _"We can get cinnamon rolls and go shopping or something."_

"Okay," Ichigo said. "I'll just see if Kish wants to come. Hang on." She turned to Kisshu and said, "Do you want to go to the mall with me, Moe and Miwa?"

"Mall?" Kisshu asked.

"Shopping," Ichigo said. "And cinnamon rolls."

"I guess," Kisshu said. "As long as you don't make me carry too much."

"We don't have a ton of money, so there won't be much, but you don't have to carry stuff if you don't want to," Ichigo said. "Go ask Mom if she has human clothes for you, k?"

"K," Kisshu said, and got up while Ichigo told Miwa, "Kish wants to come, but not carry stuff, k?"

"_Yeah, and it's not like we'll be able to get much," _Miwa said. _"Can your mom drive you? Or do you have to take the bus?"_

"I don't know, but we'll get there," Ichigo said. "Kish and I have to get ready, we'll be there soon."

"_K," _Miwa said. _"I'll be there soon too." _She hung up, and Ichigo started picking out clothes.

Kisshu came back with a bunch of clothes, and said, "You can take a shower first, if you want."

"Thanks Kish," Ichigo said with a smile. She took her clothes to the bathroom, and took a quick shower, then got dressed and went back to her room to do her hair. Kisshu was waiting, and smiled when he saw her. "You look nice," he said.

Ichigo blushed. "Thanks," she said happily. "Did you tell Mom we're going shopping?"

"Yeah, and she said she'd drive us to the mall," Kisshu said. "Will you sit with me? I still don't like cars."

"Sure," Ichigo said. "Go take a shower, I'll be downstairs."

Kisshu smiled and went to take his shower as Ichigo sat down to do her hair. She went downstairs, and found Sakura in the kitchen. "Are you feeling better?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "And I think cuddling with Kish helps."

"Just don't tell Moe and Miwa, they'll beat Kish up," Sakura said.

"I know," Ichigo said. "I'd better tell them about his allergy though."

Kisshu came downstairs with his new clothes on, and his ears changed. Sakura came over and asked, "Are you both ready to go?"

"I just have to get my purse," Ichigo said, going to the front hall and grabbing it off a hook. Sakura and Kisshu came out, and Sakura led the way to the car. Ichigo got in, and Kisshu hesitantly sat next to her, closing the door after himself. They all put seatbelts on, and Sakura started the car, causing Kisshu to jump. "Just close your eyes," Ichigo said softly.

Kisshu closed his eyes, and leaned his head on Ichigo's shoulder. She started stroking his hair as Sakura drove them to the mall. It was a fifteen minute drive, and by the time they got there, Kisshu was asleep. Sakura parked, and Ichigo gently shook Kisshu, saying, "Kish, time to get up, we're here."

Kisshu opened one eye, and yawned. Ichigo giggled, and said, "I guess sleeping through the car ride helps."

Kisshu sat up and unbuckled, then got out as Ichigo said to Sakura, "Can I call you when we're done?"

"Sure, I'll be home all day," Sakura said. "Have fun!"

"Thanks," Ichigo said as she got out, and closed the door. She took Kisshu's hand, and said, "Come on, I'll show you where the café we're going to is."

Kisshu followed her as he asked, "Are cinnamon rolls good?"

"I like them," Ichigo said. "They're sweet, and at this café, they're huge." She led the way to a small café, and looked around. "I don't see them," she said.

Suddenly from across the walkway they heard a boy say, "Hey you two! I'm sorry my girlfriend said Momomiya-san was ugly, please don't kill her! I'll go lecture her, just leave her alone!"

Ichigo and Kisshu looked at each other. Ichigo sighed. "Let's go," she said. Kisshu followed her to the stand-off, which was getting quite a few onlookers. Ichigo and Kisshu wormed their way to the front, and saw Moe and Miwa looking at a girl and her boyfriend like they were prey. Ichigo sighed. "Honestly, you two do this outside of school too?" she asked. "You know I appreciate that you protect me so well, but if you start a fight at the mall, I have a feeling this little outing will end in disaster. If this guy's offered to lecture his girlfriend, can you leave it at that so the mall security guards don't come over and arrest you?"

"Do we have to leave her alive?" Miwa asked.

"Yes, because if you get arrested, I'll be toast in two seconds flat next school year," Ichigo sighed.

"Oh, fine," Moe said. She looked at the girl and her boyfriend, and smiled evilly, showing teeth. "Next time, think before you speak," she said in a sweet voice that scared them out of their wits. The boy bowed, making his girlfriend do the same, and said, "I understand, Yanagida-san. I'll have a word with Haru."

"Good," Moe said. She turned back to Ichigo, Kisshu and Miwa, and said, "Let's go."

"Okay," Ichigo said. The crowd was breaking up, so they went to the little café. Before they went in, Ichigo said, "I should warn you that Kish is extremely allergic to bananas, so no banana stuff today, k?"

"We weren't really planning on it, but that's fine," Moe said. "Let's all get cinnamon rolls!"

Ichigo smiled as they walked up to the counter, and Miwa said to the woman, "Can we have four cinnamon rolls?"

"Sure," the woman said. "That's going to be 937 yen, please."

The girls all put in some, and handed it to the woman, who then went to the display case, and took out four gigantic cinnamon rolls and put them on paper plates. The girls and Kisshu each took one, and found a small table. "Koneko-chan, you were right, these are huge," Kisshu said, taking a bite. He smiled, and said, "And they taste great!"

"I'm glad you like it," Ichigo said happily. "Especially since it's not apples or chocolate."

"I like sweet things," Kisshu said.

"Kisshu, why do you call Ichigo 'Koneko-chan'?" Miwa asked.

"She's my kitten," Kisshu said. "And she likes it, so I call her that."

"I love my nickname," Ichigo said happily.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this happy," Moe said.

"Kish makes me happy," Ichigo said.

Kisshu blushed, and Ichigo giggled. "You're so cute when you blush!" she said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said happily.

"So Kisshu, what do you do for fun?" Miwa asked.

"Spend time with Ichigo," Kisshu said. "I like drawing too, but my favorite is spending time with Ichigo."

"Have you-" Miwa was cut off by Moe covering her mouth with one hand.

Kisshu was puzzled by this, and said, "Have I what? And how did you know what Miwa was about to say, Moe?"

Moe looked nervous, and Ichigo sighed. "Miwa wants to know if you've ever kissed me," she sighed. "And the reason Moe and I knew that is because the three of us are really close friends- to the point you could say we're bonded. We know so much about each other that it's easy to know what the others are thinking at any given time. Moe and Miwa are probably more bonded to each other than they are to me, since when they protect me, they fight as a team. They read each other's movements and thoughts, so they know exactly what to do to defeat someone."

"Wow, you two must be pretty amazing," Kisshu said, looking at Moe and Miwa. "And in answer to your question, I've actually kissed Ichigo several times, and she's really good at it."

Ichigo blushed as Moe took her hand away from Miwa's mouth. Miwa sighed and said, "I've never been kissed, and neither has Moe."

"Um… no offense, but it might have something to do with your hatred of boys," Ichigo said. "I'm sure you'll find someone someday. It probably won't be anyone from our school, though, right?"

"Hell no," Miwa said. "As soon as we get back, the kendo team is going DOWN."

"And the martial arts team is doomed if one more of them says something nasty about Ichigo," Moe said.

"I think the girls will all be after Kisshu," Miwa said. "Oh well, more people to beat up."

"Why would the girls be after me if I already have a girlfriend?" Kisshu asked.

"Because you're totally hot," Ichigo and her friends chorused.

"That, and we're not very popular, so every single girl in the school will think that you shouldn't hang out with us," Miwa said.

"I'll hang out with you anyways," Kisshu said. "I'm used to being not liked in school. It can't be any worse than my last school."

"Let's hope not," Ichigo said.

"Just don't join any teams, or you'll have a screaming fan girl audience like Aoyama did," Miwa said.

"I wasn't planning on it, but thanks for the warning," Kisshu said.

By this point they had finished their cinnamon rolls, and Ichigo said, "What now?"

"Window shopping," Miwa said. "I used up most of my money on the cinnamon rolls."

"Don't you need money for windows?" Kisshu asked, puzzled. "And why do you need windows anyways?"

"We don't, the term 'window shopping' means looking but not buying," Ichigo said.

"Oh… so what are we going to look at?" Kisshu asked.

"Clothing!" the girls chorused. Kisshu groaned as he followed them out of the café.

**Should there be another shopping chapter? Or should something else be in the next chapter? Let me know in a review, while I go try to work on other things. Review!**


	11. This is NOT My Idea of Fun!

**Neko Chapter 11:**

**This is NOT My Idea of Fun!**

"Why do you want to look at clothes?" Kisshu asked. "You have like two closets full!"

"It's fun," Ichigo said. "There's lots of pretty things to look at."

"Humans are so strange…" Kisshu muttered. "Why do you need pretty things when you ARE pretty? What's the point?"

"We don't need them, we just like them, so we look at them, and when we have enough money, we can buy the things we want," Moe explained.

"You're insane," Kisshu said.

"Why does that make us insane?" Miwa asked.

"Where I come from there's barely enough food for everyone to eat once a day, and people here can get things they want? Why not just get what you need?" Kisshu asked.

"We don't need chocolate mousse, but we want it, so we have my mom make it," Ichigo said.

"That's different, chocolate mousse is food, not a piece of cloth with flowers on it," Kisshu said. "Why do you have so many clothes anyways?"

"They've accumulated over the years, and I just don't throw them away," Ichigo said. "The ones that don't fit my mom donates to the survival centers around here, because they always need clothes for people who can't afford their own. But I don't really see any reason to give away clothes that still fit, because I like having lots of different outfits. And it's not like we're actually going to buy anything today, we don't have enough money after the cinnamon rolls."

"Remind me again why we're going in there?" Kisshu asked. "It looks frilly. And unless it's on you, frilly is weird."

"You don't have to come in if you don't want to," Ichigo said. "There's a fountain with a bench over there, go make a wish. Here's a coin."

"What do coins have to do with wishes?" Kisshu asked.

"You drop the coin in the water, and make a wish at the same time," Ichigo explained. "If you say it out loud, it won't come true, though."

"Isn't that a waste of coins?" Kisshu asked.

"No, because the staff here at the mall occasionally clean the fountain, and donate all the money that people throw in there to charity," Ichigo said. "But if you want to play with the fish in there, just watch out for piranhas."

"They put piranhas in a fountain?" Kisshu asked.

"Occasionally," Ichigo said. "But it's only every other Friday, so I wouldn't worry about it."

"Okay," Kisshu said, taking the coin Ichigo handed him. "Have fun in the frilly stuff."

"We will," Ichigo said cheerfully, and she, Moe and Miwa headed into the store, while Kisshu walked over to the fountain.

_**With Ichigo, Moe and Miwa: **_"I probably shouldn't stay too long," Ichigo said. "My mom doesn't like driving during rush hour, and I think Kish's getting freaked out."

"Maybe shopping with him wasn't such a good idea?" Miwa suggested.

"Well, guys in general hate shopping," Moe said.

"I thought he'd like the cinnamon rolls," Ichigo said. "I should have guessed he'd be totally unhappy with all the girly stuff."

"Maybe he'll like the fountain," Moe said. "But what was with the piranhas?"

"I felt like it," Ichigo said, shrugging. "I didn't expect him to believe me, but at least it's Thursday, so he won't get nervous."

"Yeah…" Miwa said.

The girls continued looking at clothes.

_**With Kisshu: **_Kisshu had made his wish, and was sitting on the bench surrounding the fountain, wondering why girls liked frilly stuff.

Something touched his leg softly, startling him out of thought and causing him to look down at a little girl about four years old who had crawled over to him. "Uh…. hi?" he said. The little girl giggled and looked at him curiously. "Where's your mom?" he asked her. He was startled when her face fell. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Can't find her…" the little girl said sadly.

"Where was she the last time you saw her?" Kisshu asked.

"With Daddy, but Daddy was angry again," the little girl said. "She told me to run."

"Does your dad hit her?" Kisshu asked.

"Daddy hits Mommy a lot," the little girl said sadly. "Daddy hits me too…."

Now Kisshu was getting worried. "Do you want me to help you find them?" he asked.

"Mommy told me to run before Daddy got her," the girl said. "I can't go back."

Suddenly Kisshu heard someone scream. He knew it was a woman, and the girl said, "That sounded like Mommy!"

_Great… _Kisshu thought. He closed his eyes, and focused on the sound of the woman's voice. In his mind, he saw a tall man beating up a woman who looked a lot like the girl he was talking to. Suddenly the man took out what looked like a knife, and Kisshu opened his eyes. "I think your mom's in trouble," he told the girl, who looked scared. "Can you wait here? I'll go help her, but I don't want to put you in danger. If you see anyone but me, hide."

"Oniichan, be careful," the girl said.

"I will," Kisshu said, and ran toward the sound of yet another scream.

When he reached the area he heard the screaming coming from, the woman was unconscious on the ground, and the man still had a knife. Kisshu didn't think, he ran over, and as the man turned, kicked the knife into the air, caught it, and snapped it in half. "What are YOU doing here, punk?" the man asked.

"I heard screaming," Kisshu said. "Why are you attacking her?"

"She's trying to take my daughter away," the guy growled. "And I'd appreciate it if you would quit interfering."

"I'm not letting you kill her," Kisshu said. "Though I'm surprised no one but me heard her screaming."

Suddenly they both heard running footsteps, and a bunch of police officers ran up to them. "What's going on? We received a call saying that someone heard screaming over here," one of them said.

"I heard the screaming, and when I came over, that guy was standing over her with a knife," Kisshu said. "I took the knife away. It's over there." He pointed to the pieces of the knife, and said, "I can see if the woman's okay, if you want to do something about this guy."

The police officers nodded and surrounded the guy, who was trying to sneak away. Kisshu, meanwhile, went to the woman and tapped her forehead. She slowly started to wake up, and looked startled to see Kisshu. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Kisshu, and I heard you screaming, so I came over," Kisshu said. "The police are doing something about that guy; can you stand?"

"I think so, but I think he dislocated my shoulder again," the woman said. "Have you seen a four year old little girl?"

"Yes, I told her to wait by the fountain, and hide if she saw anyone but me," Kisshu said. "Should I go get her?"

"She's okay?" the woman asked. "She's not hurt?"

"She looked fine, and she told me what was happening," Kisshu said. "Do you want me to go get her?"

"Please," the woman said, as an officer came over.

"I'll go get her," Kisshu said, and ran off. When he reached the fountain, he saw Ichigo, Moe and Miwa trying to coax the little girl to come out. She was hiding behind a large plant, but was pretty easily visible. Ichigo looked up as Kisshu came over, and said, "Kisshu, do you have any idea why this little girl is alone here?"

"Yeah, I told her to stay while I saved her mom from her dad," Kisshu said. Then he called, "You can come out now, they're friendly."

The little girl ran to Kisshu and held her arms up. Kisshu picked her up and said, "I saved your mom, do you want to see her?"

"What about Daddy?" the little girl asked.

"The police heard the screaming, and they're making sure he can't hurt your mom," Kisshu said. To Ichigo, he said, "Koneko-chan, call Sakura and tell her to come pick us up, I think I've had enough mall for one day. I'll take the little girl back to her mom."

"Okay," Ichigo said. She took out her cell phone as Kisshu carried the little girl back to the area he had found her parents in. By the time he got there, the man was gone, and two police officers were helping the girl's mom up. Kisshu went over to them and said, "Here's your daughter, ma'am."

"Anko!" the woman cried. Kisshu gently set Anko down, and she ran to her mother, arms outstretched. The woman knelt and hugged the girl tightly. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Oniichan took care of me," Anko said.

The woman looked up at Kisshu, and said, "I can't thank you enough. Anko means everything to me, thank you so much."

"It's fine," Kisshu said. "I wasn't going to leave a four-year-old on her own, or let her mother get killed. I'm glad Anko told me what was happening, I was happy to help. I have to get going, though. I hope things get better."

"Thank you so much," the woman said again.

Kisshu just smiled, waved, and walked away. He went back to the fountain, where he found Sakura waiting with Ichigo. Moe and Miwa had left.

"Kisshu, what happened?" Sakura asked.

"This little girl came up to me, and said that her mom told her to run, before her dad could get her," Kisshu said. "Then we heard her mom scream, and I told the girl to hide if she saw anyone besides me, then went to help the mom. I got there just in time, her husband had a knife. I took the knife and snapped it in half, and then the police came, and I told them what happened. Then I came back here and got the girl, told Ichigo to call you, and took the girl back to her mom. I don't think I like malls very much…."

"Well, next time Ichigo wants to go clothes shopping, you can stay home," Sakura said. "But it's good you were able to help that girl and her mom."

"Yep, I was happy to help," Kisshu said. "Can we go home now?"

"Yep, let's go," Sakura said, leading the way to her car.

**I don't exactly know where I came up with all this, but hey, I think it's pretty good. Review and tell me what you think! But please don't flame.**


	12. Another Kidnapping

**Neko Chapter 12:**

**Another Kidnapping**

After the trip to the mall, Kisshu refused to go shopping, so he and Ichigo spent time either in her room, his room, or one of the many parks nearby. Their favorite spot was the huge sakura tree in Inohara Park.

One day they were sitting under the tree, trying to stay cool. It was summer now, and it was HOT. They were just sitting there, when Ichigo's cell phone rang, startling both of them. Ichigo looked at the caller ID, and said, "It's Keiichiro, I wonder what's up." She picked up and said, "Hi Keiichiro, what's up?"

"_I was reading the police reports today, and it said that Ryou got out of jail!" _Keiichiro said. _"You two should be careful; he's most likely out to get you."_

"We'll be careful," Ichigo said. "Anything else we need to know?"

"_Not at the moment, but I'll keep you posted," _Keiichiro said, and hung up.

Ichigo sighed, and Kisshu looked at her. "Ryou broke out of jail," she said. "We're going to have to be careful."

"Let's get home and tell Sakura and Shintaro, they need to be careful too," Kisshu said. He took her hand and teleported back home.

Sakura was waiting in the living room for them, and she said, "Keiichiro called us, did he call you too?"

"Hai," Kisshu said. "I guess we'll all have to be careful now."

"Where's Dad?" Ichigo asked.

"Sharpening his sword," Sakura sighed. "He's insane."

"I heard that!" Shintaro called from the other room. "I am NOT insane!"

Sakura just sighed again, as Ichigo giggled.

Despite Shintaro's rather amusing attempts to prove he was not insane, everyone was on edge for the next few days.

They were right to be on edge, because a week after Keiichiro's phone call, disaster struck.

The day started normally enough, and Sakura decided to go shopping, since they were out of apples again. They had discovered that Kisshu really was obsessed with them, and basically couldn't live without them. Sakura just said apples were healthy, and kept buying them.

She had decided to go to the grocery store two streets over, since Shintaro was working and needed the car. This left Ichigo and Kisshu to their own devices for a while. They went to Kisshu's room, and started playing Hangman.

Three hours later, they were getting worried, because Sakura still wasn't home. "Do you think something happened?" Ichigo asked.

"I'll find out," Kisshu said. "I don't think it takes three hours to buy apples and get home. Stay quiet for a minute." Ichigo nodded, and Kisshu closed his eyes, concentrating. Suddenly his eyes snapped open, and he looked scared. "Transform, now," he told Ichigo.

Ichigo wasted no time in obeying. "Call Keiichiro and tell him to track our movements, and call Pai," Kisshu told her.

Ichigo grabbed her cell phone, and dialed Keiichiro's number. When he picked up, she immediately said, "Keiichiro, there's a problem, and Kisshu and I need you to track our movements and call Pai."

Hearing the seriousness in her voice, Keiichiro agreed and hung up. "Done," Ichigo said.

"Ryou has Sakura, we need to be careful," Kisshu said. "I'll teleport you, let's go." He took her hand and teleported to what appeared to be an old abandoned house. Kisshu concentrated again, then said, "Top floor, and we need to keep it quiet."

Ichigo just nodded and followed Kisshu to the door. He opened it, and quietly went in. Ichigo followed him up the stairs, making sure to be quiet. Suddenly Kisshu stopped, and Ichigo watched as he pressed his ear against a door. Her cat ears twitched, and she heard Ryou's voice say, "Now that I have you, Ichigo will have no choice but to obey me."

Kisshu obviously heard the same thing, because he proceeded to rip the door off its hinges. Throwing it aside, he went into the room, followed by Ichigo.

Sakura was tied up and gagged on a chair, and Ryou had a gun. He spun when he heard them, then smirked. "This time's going to be different, freak," he said.

"You're right," Kisshu said. "Because this time, you won't end up in jail, you'll end up in hell, because I'm going to kill you for this."

"That's what you think," Ryou said smugly. Instead of aiming the gun at Kisshu, he aimed it at Sakura. "Try anything, and I'll kill her," Ryou said. "The only way you can save her is to leave Ichigo with me. And the trick you used to get my gun last time won't work; I made this gun to be immune to your powers."

Kisshu looked torn; if he didn't leave Ichigo, he couldn't save Sakura, but if he did, he knew Ryou would probably rape her and then kill her. _There's got to be another way, _Kisshu thought. Unfortunately, he couldn't think what that other way would be. Teleporting behind Ryou wouldn't work; he would hear the teleportation. And there was no way he could attack from the front; Ryou would just kill Sakura the minute he moved.

Ryou smirked, and Kisshu got more nervous. Ryou put one finger on the trigger, and said, "Time's up, freak." Then he pulled the trigger.

Kisshu didn't think; he teleported in front of Sakura right before the bullet hit her. The result? Kisshu got hit instead, and the bullet went through his heart.

"_**KISSHU!" **_Ichigo screamed, as Kisshu collapsed. Ryou laughed, and Ichigo snapped. She summoned her weapon, and hit a shocked Ryou with so much power that there was nothing left by the time the attack faded. She let her weapon disappear, then untied Sakura and took the piece of cloth off her mouth. Then she collapsed on the floor, sobbing.

Sakura, though shocked, knelt next to Ichigo, and said, "Give me your cell phone, Ichigo."

Ichigo, still sobbing, took it out of her pocket, and handed it over. Then she sat next to Kisshu, and just sobbed.

Sakura, meanwhile, scrolled through Ichigo's contacts till she found Keiichiro, and immediately hit Send.

When Keiichiro picked up, Sakura said, "Keiichiro, this is Sakura, Ichigo's mom. Ryou kidnapped me, and tried to kill me, but Kisshu got in front of me and got killed instead. Do you have any way of fixing this before Ichigo commits suicide? I don't want to lose both of them."

"_Pai has some Mew Aqua, I'll tell him to get it and bring it to you," _Keiichiro said.

"Please hurry," Sakura said, and hung up. She looked over at Ichigo, who had noticed Ryou's gun. Sakura ran over and took it away, then threw it out the window.

"Why can't you just let me die? My life is completely meaningless without Kish!" Ichigo wailed, and started sobbing again.

Sakura hugged her, and said softly, "I don't want to lose either of you. I called Keiichiro, and he says Pai will be here soon with some Mew Aqua."

Ichigo just sniffed. Pai teleported in about a minute later, and asked, "What exactly happened?"

"Ryou shot Kisshu through the heart when he teleported in front of me," Sakura said.

"I guess I'd better take the bullet out before using Mew Aqua," Pai said. He placed a hand over the wound in Kisshu's chest, and made a pulling motion with his hand. A minute later, the bullet popped out, and Pai threw it aside. "Ichigo, do you want to use the Mew Aqua?" Pai asked.

"Yes please," Ichigo said, still sniffling. Pai handed it to her, and she pushed it into Kisshu's body, right over his heart. Kisshu began to glow rainbow colors as the wound in his chest healed. A minute later, he started breathing again, and slowly opened his eyes. "Kish?" Ichigo asked softly.

Kisshu sat up fast, then nearly fell back. Ichigo caught him, and said, "Are you okay?"

Kisshu looked up at her, and asked worriedly, "If I'm alive, what happened to Sakura?"

"I'm right here, Kish," Sakura said. "Thank you for saving me."

Kisshu sat up more slowly, and looked at her, then threw himself at her, burying his face in her shoulder. Sakura hugged him back, saying softly, "You don't have to worry, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…." Kisshu said, not taking his face out of her shoulder.

"Then go tell Ichigo that, she tried to shoot herself after she incinerated Ryou," Sakura said. "And she was sobbing until I told her Pai had some Mew Aqua."

Kisshu let go of Sakura and looked at Ichigo. "Why would you try to kill yourself?" he asked.

"My life is meaningless without you, Kish," Ichigo said. "Are you really okay?"

Kisshu pulled her into his arms and hugged her as he said, "I'm fine, Koneko-chan. You don't have to cry anymore."

Ichigo hugged back, burying her face in his shoulder. He started stroking her hair, noticing her breathing was starting to even out.

"Should I teleport you home?" Pai asked. "I don't think you should teleport right away, Kisshu."

"Good idea," Sakura said. "Can you do that?"

"Sure," Pai said. He took Kisshu, who was holding Ichigo, and Sakura by the shoulder, and teleported to Ichigo's room. Kisshu gently put Ichigo down on the bed, then sat next to her and started stroking her hair again, causing her to start purring. Pai came over and put a hand on her forehead, then sighed, causing Kisshu and Sakura to look at him, puzzled. "She's going to be pretty clingy to you when she wakes up, Kisshu," Pai said softly. "You're going to have to stay with her, or it's possible she'll go into depression from thinking you don't like her. I know you like spending time with her anyways, but I just thought you should know that after that little experience, it's going to take at least a few days for her to go back to normal, if not longer. And before you ask, this isn't something I can heal. You're the only one who can get her back to normal."

"Okay, I'll stay with her," Kisshu said. "We like sleeping together anyways, and I like spending time with her. I just hope she doesn't try to drag me to the mall again…."

Pai sighed and said, "One more thing you should know is that she might start having nightmares from this. If it starts getting bad, call me, and I'll see what I can do."

Kisshu looked worriedly at Ichigo, who was still purring.

"Don't worry," Pai said. "I can help if she starts having nightmares. But traumatic experiences can leave scars. I just thought I'd let you know it's a possibility."

"Thanks, Pai," Sakura said. "Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome," Pai said. "I think I'd better go tell Keiichiro the results of what happened today, so if you need me, call."

"K, thanks," Kisshu said. Pai nodded and teleported out.

About a minute later, they heard footsteps on the stairs, and Shintaro ran in. "Sakura, I got a call from Keiichiro, are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Sakura said. "Kisshu saved me."

Shintaro sighed, relieved. Then he held a hand out to Kisshu, who shook it as Shintaro said, "I can't thank you enough. Sakura means everything to me."

"That's exactly what the lady at the mall said when I brought her daughter back to her," Kisshu said. "I couldn't live with myself if I let Ryou shoot Sakura."

Sakura stood up and hugged Kisshu. He hugged back as she said, "You're wonderful, Kish."

Kisshu just hugged her happily as Shintaro asked, "Is Ichigo okay?"

"She wore herself out," Sakura said. "Kish jumped in front of a bullet that was aimed at me, and if Pai hadn't showed up with Mew Aqua, I think both our kids would be dead. I had to stop Ichigo from shooting herself after Kish died."

"Kisshu, you DIED!?" Shintaro asked.

"Yeah…" Kisshu said.

"Are you okay?" Shintaro asked.

"I'm fine now," Kisshu said. "When I first woke up I thought that me being alive meant that I had failed in saving Sakura. I'm glad she's okay. I'd have a very hard time living without her…."

"You're sweet," Sakura said. "Are you glad I adopted you?"

"Very much so," Kisshu said, still hugging her. "I like having a mom again…"

Sakura smiled softly, and said, "I'm happy to be your mom, Kish."

**Aww…. Isn't that sweet? Review! **


	13. Clingy

**Neko Chapter 13:**

**Clingy**

Kisshu was still hugging Sakura when they noticed Ichigo was waking up. Kisshu let go of Sakura and sat down next to Ichigo, asking softly, "Koneko-chan, are you okay?"

Ichigo opened her eyes, and asked, "Do you still love me?"

"Of course, why?" Kisshu asked.

"I guess it was just a dream…" Ichigo said.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Kisshu asked.

"Not really, I dreamed that you said you liked Mom more than me," Ichigo said.

"I like you in different ways," Kisshu said. "So I love you both equally, but in different ways."

"Oh…" Ichigo said. She still sounded a bit sad, and Kisshu was kind of worried. "Do you want a kiss?" he asked her.

Ichigo perked up a bit, and said, "I like kisses."

Kisshu smiled and kissed her passionately, despite the fact that Shintaro was still there. Ichigo kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. They didn't break it off until Shintaro, who for some odd reason was still watching them, asked, "Don't you two need air?"

The two of them broke off the kiss and glared at him. "I'll take that as a 'no'," Shintaro sighed. "If you need me, which I doubt, I'll be sulking in the living room." He left, and Ichigo and Kisshu burst out laughing.

When they calmed down a bit, Ichigo said, "I doubt Dad will ever get used to us."

"Well, at least he doesn't hate me anymore," Kisshu said. "That's a plus."

"Yep!" Ichigo said happily. "Hey, can we see if we can make it to ten minutes? Last time was nine."

Kisshu smirked, and said, "Sure, let's go."

"I love it when you smirk like that," Ichigo said, and kissed Kisshu passionately. He looked at the clock before letting his eyes close in bliss. They went for quite a while, but eventually did have to break it off. Gasping for air, Kisshu looked at the clock, and smiled. "Twelve minutes," he said. "We beat our own record!"

"Yay!" Ichigo said happily. "Let's go tell Mom; Dad could probably care less."

Before they could go anywhere, teleportation sounded in the room, and Pai appeared. "Pai, guess what?" Kisshu said happily.

"Do I want to know?" Pai sighed.

"We can kiss for twelve minutes without breaking for air!" Ichigo said happily. "Last time we only made it to nine minutes."

"Great…" Pai said unenthusiastically. "Do you want to know why I came, or are you too happy?"

"Oh, fine, Mr. Zombie, why'd you come?" Kisshu asked.

"Okay, first, I'm NOT a zombie, and second, I came to see how Ichigo's doing," Pai said.

"I'm fine," Ichigo said. "Why?"

"I was just concerned due to the events of earlier," Pai said.

Ichigo's face fell a bit, and she said, "I was trying to forget about that…."

Pai sighed. "Sorry…" he said. "I want to check to see if your mind is unharmed from all that crying, is that okay? You can go back to kissing when I'm done."

"Okay…" Ichigo said.

Pai came over and put a hand on her forehead, closing his eyes. A few minutes later, he said, "I think you're fine. If you start getting depressed, have Kisshu call me."

"K…" Ichigo said. "Can we talk about something else now?"

"Yes, the other reason I came was to tell you that I'm going back to our planet to heal it," Pai said. "It'll just be me, Taruto is staying with Pudding, and Kisshu was the leader of the mission, so if they get mad, he'd be in more danger than I am. Kisshu, you stay here with Ichigo, I'll come back when I'm done."

"Good luck," Kisshu said. "And don't get yourself killed."

"I won't, I promise," Pai said. He teleported out, and Kisshu looked at Ichigo.

"What happens if you don't get exiled?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know about Pai and Taruto, but if we don't get exiled, which is highly unlikely, I'm not going anywhere," Kisshu said. "I promised I would never leave you, remember?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "What?" Kisshu asked.

"That wasn't very evident this morning," she said dryly.

"That was different, and besides, if I hadn't done that, your mom would be dead, and I would never forgive myself," Kisshu said. "And then I'd get so depressed I'd stop kissing you. I don't think you'd like that…."

Ichigo started looking worried. "No kissing?" she asked worriedly.

"I didn't get depressed, so we can kiss all you want," Kisshu said. "Except for right now, because I'm starving, and I'd like to eat something before going back to kissing. Are you hungry?"

"Now that you mention it, yes," Ichigo said. "Let's go downstairs." She took Kisshu's hand, and he curled his fingers around hers as she pulled him down to the kitchen.

"It smells like chocolate in here," Kisshu commented.

Sakura looked in from the living room, and said, "I'm making chocolate chunk cake, which will be done soon. You two have to have healthy food first though."

"Can we make grilled cheese?" Ichigo asked.

"There's not much cheese, I didn't really feel like going shopping after this morning, so I'd suggest tuna or something," Sakura said.

Ichigo and Kisshu's eyes lit up. "Fish?" they asked together.

Sakura smiled. "Yep, it's in the cabinet," she said. "And there are plenty of cans, so you don't have to share if you don't want to."

"That sounds good…." Ichigo said dreamily. "I love fish…."

"Me too…" Kisshu said. "Let's go eat fish."

Ichigo went and got a can opener, and then got two cans of tuna. "Kish, will you get out the bread so we can have sandwiches?" she asked.

"Sure," Kisshu said, and got the bread out of the pantry. Ichigo got the cans open, and drained the water out, then asked, "Should we eat it plain, or put some mayonnaise in?"

"Let's just eat it plain," Kisshu said. "Fish is good either way, though. All fish is good."

"Okay," Ichigo said happily. "I think we've got more in common now that you've got cat genes."

"That's why I like fish?" Kisshu asked.

"Yup, cats love fish," Ichigo said. She scooped her can of tuna onto a slice of bread, and put another slice on top, then put her sandwich on a plate. Kisshu was finishing making his, and he joined her at the table. They started eating, both looking very content.

Sakura came in and said, "Is it good?"

"All fish is good," Kisshu said happily.

"Do you want more fish for dinner?" Sakura asked. "I can fry some fish. I have some flounder in the freezer."

She smiled when Kisshu and Ichigo's eyes lit up. "That sounds GOOD!" Kisshu said.

"Can we have potatoes with it?" Ichigo asked.

"Sure," Sakura said. "And there will be chocolate chunk cake for dessert, which I'm about to take out of the oven." She got some oven mitts, and opened the oven, then took the cake out.

"Chocolate is better than fish," Kisshu said.

"I think they're equally good," Ichigo replied.

"Apples are good too," Kisshu said. "I wonder why apples can't be fish-flavored?"

"Apples are apples, and fish are fish," Sakura said. "And you seem to be obsessed with both, Kish."

Kisshu shrugged. "I like them a lot," he said. "And at least they're healthy."

"Yes, they are," Sakura said. "I think the only difference in yours and Ichigo's favorite foods is that she likes strawberries, while you like apples."

"Do we have any apples?" Kisshu asked.

"No, but I'll get some tomorrow," Sakura said. "I don't really want to go anywhere today."

"K," Kisshu said. "Koneko-chan, wanna go back to your room?"

"Okay!" Ichigo said happily. "I like my room. What do you want to do in my room?"

"Play," Kisshu said.

"Okay," Ichigo said. Kisshu smiled and took her hand, then pulled her upstairs.

When they got to her room, Kisshu closed the door, and said, "If I turn into a kitten, will you play with me?"

"Wouldn't it be more fun if we were both kittens?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah!" Kisshu said excitedly, and POOFed into kitten form. Ichigo did the same, and they jumped onto the bed. Ichigo's tail waved, and Kisshu tried to pounce. Ichigo moved her tail just in time, and Kisshu went facefirst into the pillow. Ichigo snickered, and jumped on him. They then started rolling around on the bed, until they nearly fell off, and decided it wasn't exactly safe to roll off the side of the bed. Ichigo walked over to Kisshu and licked his cheek. He responded by licking her ear, causing it to twitch. Kisshu liked that, and did it again.

Ichigo wasn't too keen on having her ear licked, and she pounced on Kisshu, startling him. Unfortunately she also stepped on his tail, which caused him to start wailing loudly. This brought Sakura running, and when she came in, she stopped dead. "You're _both _kittens?" she asked.

Ichigo nodded, and Sakura asked, "So why is Kish wailing?"

Kisshu mewed and pointed to his tail. "Ichigo, did you step on Kish's tail?" Sakura asked.

Ichigo's ears drooped as she nodded. Sakura sighed. "Did you apologize?" she asked.

Ichigo shook her head, then went to Kisshu and nuzzled him gently, mewing softly. Kisshu nuzzled back, purring. Sakura came over and sat down, and Kisshu walked onto her lap, then curled up. Sakura started rubbing his ears as Ichigo came over too. Ichigo rubbed Sakura's leg, and Sakura started scratching her ears too. Kisshu had already fallen asleep on Sakura's lap. Soon Ichigo was asleep too, curled up against Sakura.

**Cute, right? I'll try to get more out tomorrow. Right now I'm tired. Review!**


	14. Shinzou Mondai

**Neko Chapter 14:**

**Shinzou Mondai**

About two hours later, Sakura was still in Ichigo's room, with both Ichigo and Kisshu asleep on her lap in kitten form. Shintaro came in a while later, and Sakura held a finger to her lips. "They're sleeping," she said softly.

"I take it that means I'm not getting dinner any time soon?" Shintaro asked.

"That reminds me, we're having fried fish and potatoes tonight," Sakura said. "I guess I'll start that soon. Let me just wake them up, and let them know it's going to be dinnertime soon, and they should change back."

Shintaro left to go back to the paper as Sakura gently shook Kisshu and Ichigo, saying softly, "Okay, time to get up, kids."

Ichigo sleepily opened one eye, and mewed. "I have to go make dinner, so can you two change back?" Sakura asked.

Ichigo sighed and climbed off her mother's lap, then POOFed back to normal. "Kish is right, you're comfy," Ichigo said.

Sakura giggled, and said, "I guess I'd better wake him up too, we're having fish tonight."

Kisshu's eyes opened at the word 'fish', and he POOFed back to normal. Then he looked puzzled. "Something wrong?" Ichigo asked worriedly.

"I don't feel good," Kisshu said.

Sakura gently felt his forehead, then said, "You're burning up, it looks like you came down with something."

Kisshu started coughing, and when he got his breath back, he said, "I really don't feel well."

"I think you've got a cold," Sakura said. "And I don't think it's a good idea for Ichigo to sleep with you while you're sick."

"I like having her nearby…" Kisshu said a bit sadly.

"I'll sleep on the floor, you can have the bed," Ichigo said. "I'll still be here, k?"

"K," Kisshu said. He started coughing again, and sniffed.

"Go back to bed, you should get some rest," Sakura said. "Are you hungry?"

"No," Kisshu said.

"Okay," Sakura said. "I'm going to go get some of the fever medicine I have, and a cool cloth. Try to stay awake till I get back, k?"

Kisshu nodded, and Sakura left, coming back a few minutes later with a glass of water and a bottle of pills. "Okay, you need to take one of these, and swallow it whole," she told Kisshu. She gave Kisshu a pill and the water, and he swallowed the pill. Then he sleepily climbed under the covers, and asked, "Can I sleep?"

"Yes, it's good for you," Sakura said. "Do you want Ichigo to stay? I have to go make dinner."

"Yeah…" Kisshu said sleepily.

Ichigo sat down next to him and said, "I'll stay with you, try to get some rest."

Kisshu settled back against the pillows, and Ichigo started stroking his hair. He was asleep soon after. Sakura left and came back with a cold cloth, which she put on Kisshu's forehead. He shivered a bit, and Ichigo got up, got some blankets out of her closet, and spread them over Kisshu. Then she sat back down next to him as Sakura left again.

Ichigo ate dinner with her parents, but went straight back to Kisshu afterwards. Eventually she got tired, and pulled out her sleeping bag, then settled down for the night.

The next morning, she woke up somewhat early, because Kisshu was coughing. She sat up, and noticed he was sitting up, one hand over his mouth as he coughed. Ichigo got out of her sleeping bag and came over, then started patting him on the back. This time it was quite a while before he stopped, and the cough really didn't sound good. When he took his hand away from his mouth, his eyes widened. Noticing he was looking at his hand, Ichigo took his hand, and looked at it. Her eyes widened too, because Kisshu's hand was speckled with blood.

"Are you able to call Pai?" Ichigo asked Kisshu. Kisshu closed his eyes for a minute, then said, "He's on his way…"

Sakura came in before Ichigo could reply, and asked, "Kish, are you feeling any better?"

"No," Kisshu said, his voice hoarse.

"Kish was coughing up blood, I had him call Pai," Ichigo said- just as Kisshu passed out.

Pai teleported in a minute later and asked, "What happened? I heard Kisshu calling for help."

"He was coughing up blood, and I told him to call you," Ichigo said. "He just passed out."

Pai immediately came over as Ichigo got up, and put his hand over Kisshu's heart. "Not good," he said. "Ichigo, I might need some of your power to fully heal him. I'll let you know, so just keep quiet, k?"

"K," Ichigo said, and watched as Pai's hand began to glow. The glow didn't spread out, it stayed around Pai's hand, and started pulsing. About ten minutes later, the glow started to flicker, and Pai said, "Ichigo, I need your power to fully heal him."

"Hai, take as much as you need," Ichigo said, and took the hand Pai held out to her. She felt him start to pull her power out, and saw the glow around his hand get brighter.

Another ten minutes passed before Pai said, "That should do it, thanks Ichigo."

"Sure," Ichigo said tiredly. "What was the problem?"

"For some reason, the Mew Aqua couldn't completely heal the damage to his heart," Pai said. "I managed to heal what the Mew Aqua didn't, but that took a lot of power."

"I'll say, I don't have much left," Ichigo said. "Does he still have a cold?"

"I don't think he did, I think it was just the heart thing," Pai said. "He needs to sleep off the healing, though, and climbing in with him might disturb him. I hope you don't mind sleeping in your sleeping bag again."

"I don't mind, but what about you? You look exhausted," Ichigo said.

"Pai can have Kisshu's room," Sakura said. "Do you need that, Pai?"

"If you don't mind," Pai said.

"Sure, come with me," Sakura said. "Ichigo, get some rest."

"K," Ichigo said. She climbed into her sleeping bag as Sakura and Pai left.

When she woke up, it seemed to be nighttime. Kisshu was still asleep, so Ichigo decided to stay in the room. Her clock said it was about ten at night anyways. Not wanting to disturb Kisshu, she decided to just go back to sleep.

The next morning, she woke up to someone tapping her forehead. "Nyaaa…" she said unhappily, opening her eyes. To her surprise, Pai was kneeling next to her, and she immediately asked, "Is Kish okay?"

"He woke up an hour ago, it's you we were worried about," Pai said. "You've been sleeping for nearly 24 hours."

"That's probably a combination of cat genes and how tired I was," Ichigo said. "You do realize that if I was a real cat, I'd need 19 hours of sleep, right?"

"You're not a real cat, though," Pai commented. "I'm just going to check that nothing's wrong, so lie flat, k?"

Ichigo sighed and obeyed. Pai put a hand on her chest for a few minutes, then said, "I guess you were right, I can't sense anything wrong."

"Good," Sakura said from the doorway as Ichigo sat up. Noticing Ichigo was looking around, she said, "Kish is in the shower, if that's why you're looking around."

"So he's okay now?" Ichigo asked.

"He's fine," Pai said. "By the way, what's a mall?"

"A place where you can go shopping," Ichigo said. "Kish hates malls."

"He was telling me the other day that he hoped you wouldn't drag him to another one," Pai commented.

"He initially agreed to coming, but when he saw what my friends and I wanted to look at, I think he got a bit freaked out," Ichigo said. "Not to mention he ended up saving a girl's mother from her father. And bringing the girl back to her mom. That doesn't usually happen in the mall, but now Kish refuses to go near malls."

"I don't think boys in general like shopping," Sakura said. "At least he liked the cinnamon rolls."

"Yeah," Ichigo said. She giggled, and said, "He looked at the shop we wanted to go into and said, "It looks frilly. And unless it's on you, frilly is weird." He's so cute."

"Glad you think so," Kisshu said, coming into the room. "Are you okay?"

"Yep," Ichigo said. "I was just exhausted, and the cat genes didn't really help. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Kisshu said. "And hungry."

"There are chocolate chip muffins," Sakura said.

"Yay!" Kisshu and Ichigo said happily.

Sakura smiled and said, "Two each, k?"

"K," Kisshu said happily. "Thanks, Sakura."

"Welcome," Sakura said with a smile.

Kisshu and Ichigo smiled happily, and went downstairs for breakfast.

**I know it's short and probably boring, but I want to work on other things, and I did promise I'd give you more today. Please review, but don't flame if you don't like it. And the chapter title means Heart Problems, I just wanted to do a Japanese title for once.**


	15. Summer's End

**Neko Chapter 15:**

**Summer's End**

The rest of the summer was going by pretty quickly. Kisshu had helped Ichigo finish her summer homework, and they spent the rest of their time at the park or in their rooms, sometimes meeting up with Moe and Miwa for ice cream.

A week before school was supposed to start, Ichigo and Kisshu met Moe and Miwa for ice cream at their favorite place, a little shop near Miwa's house. After getting their orders, they started talking.

"I have a feeling we're screwed," Ichigo said. "Without you two around, Kish and I will be toast."

"See how the first day goes, and then if it gets too bad, you can tell the principal to bring us back," Moe said. "He doesn't like bullying; he'd probably listen if there's actually a problem. And I hate to say this, but you probably will have problems- especially with the girls."

"Why the girls in particular?" Kisshu asked.

"Because you're so hot that whether you have a girlfriend or not, they'll all try to find a way to get you to love them," Miwa said. "The lot of them are idiots."

"If they think I'll ever dump Ichigo, they're dead wrong," Kisshu said. "I'm never going to love anyone besides Ichigo."

"Good," Moe and Miwa said. "Because if you fell for anyone else, we'd have to beat you up."

"I won't," Kisshu said. "Besides, Ichigo's the only one who doesn't mind that I'm not human."

"We don't mind, but we get what you mean," Miwa said. "And you get to protect her while we're not there, got it?"

"Hai," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled and said, "I'm positive that Kish will protect me- if I'm not too busy protecting him from fan girls."

"Fan girls are creepy," Kisshu said. "Do you really think they'll try to make me fall for them?"

"Considering how totally hot you are, I'd say yes," Ichigo said.

"The girls at our school are a bunch of brainless dimwits who only care about themselves and how they look," Miwa said. "I honestly don't understand why the boys like them. But then again, the boys are pretty stupid too. They keep insulting Ichigo, which means they get beaten up by us."

"They'd better not do that while I'm around," Kisshu said. "They can go down in flames."

Ichigo sighed. "Just remember, no swords," she said. "You'll get arrested."

"Oh, fine," Kisshu said.

_**One week later: **_Ichigo and Kisshu were getting ready for school, and both were kind of nervous. Sakura had offered to drive them, but Kisshu still hated cars, so he declined.

They left the house, and walked to school. Once there, Ichigo took Kisshu to the office, where they found the principal waiting for them. "You're Ikisatashi Kisshu?" he asked.

"Hai," Kisshu said.

"Ichigo will show you around," the principal said. "The kendo team is still rather unhappy, but they'll get hell from me if they do anything."

"Moe and Miwa asked me to stand in for them," Kisshu said. "I'll protect Ichigo while they're gone."

"Great…." the principal said. "Not too hard, please."

"Yes sir," Kisshu said. "Can we go to class now?"

"Go ahead," the principal said.

Ichigo and Kisshu bowed, then Ichigo led the way to their first class, which was Japanese History. They sat down together as the teacher came in, and the rest of the class settled down. When everyone was settled, the teacher said, "We have a new student this year, and I'd like you to welcome him. Ikisatashi Kisshu, will you stand up so everyone can see you?"

Kisshu stood up, then sat back down when the teacher said, "Thank you. Alright, I hope you all finished the summer homework, because I'm coming around to collect it."

There was a rustling noise as the students started digging out their homework. The teacher came around and collected it, and then set the papers down on her desk. Then she started the lesson.

Ichigo and Kisshu both felt others staring at them, but managed to ignore them. When the bell rang, they packed up and left holding hands. As they walked to the next class, a boy came up to them and asked, "Ichigo, why'd you kill Aoyama?"

"I didn't, where'd you hear that?" Ichigo asked.

"The whole kendo team's talking about it," the boy said.

"Don't believe everything you hear," Ichigo said.

"Well, why were you gone when he disappeared?" the boy asked.

"I caught a stomach bug and was too sick to come in," Ichigo said. "Are you done bugging me? I'd like to get to class."

The boy sighed, and said, "Watch yourself, they're all out to get you."

"I'll keep it in mind," Ichigo said. Then she walked with Kisshu to the next class.

It was the same deal; they both knew people were staring at them, but kept working. The next period was the same, but after that was recess, which quickly turned into a disaster.

Kisshu and Ichigo had decided to eat outside, since it was nice out. Big mistake. As soon as they got out there, they noticed the entire kendo team was waiting for them. "Great…" Ichigo sighed.

"What do they expect to do with those bamboo sticks?" Kisshu asked.

"Those things hurt if you get hit, but it only leaves a bruise usually," Ichigo said.

Suddenly the guy in front, most likely the captain, called, "Ichigo, you're going to pay for killing Aoyama!"

"Honestly, what on Earth makes you think I did it?" Ichigo asked. "What reason would I have to kill him?"

"He dumped you," another guy said.

"For your information, he didn't dump me, I broke up with him," Ichigo said. "Where'd you hear that he dumped me?"

"That doesn't matter," the captain said. "What matters is that we know you killed him, and you're going to pay for that. We lost our biggest tournament because we didn't have him!"

"In other words, the rest of you suck?" Kisshu asked mildly. "I'm not letting you kill Ichigo, which, by the way, will get you arrested."

"Then why don't you try fighting us? It'll be fun to watch you lose," the captain said.

Kisshu smirked, and the guy snarled, then lunged at Kisshu with his shinai. (A/N: Bamboo sword used for kendo) Kisshu sidestepped, grabbed the sword, and yanked it out of the guy's hands. Kisshu looked at the shinai, and said, "This looks pretty flimsy. You expect to beat me with something I can snap in half?"

"You can't snap that in half," the captain said dismissively.

Kisshu just took the shinai, and easily snapped it in two. Then he threw the pieces over his shoulder, and asked, "Anything ELSE you've got to say?"

The captain nodded to another two guys, who lunged at Kisshu together. Kisshu smirked, and grabbed both of their swords, then took the two shinai and said, "I was hoping you'd do something like that."

"Why, exactly?" the captain asked.

"I'm better with two swords than just one," Kisshu said, shrugging.

"You know how to use a sword?" the captain asked skeptically.

"Yes, and I'm way better than a bunch of jerks who just tap each other and call it quits," Kisshu said.

"We'll see," the captain said. Another guy handed over his shinai, and the captain lunged at Kisshu, who dodged, then attacked with both shinai. The captain tried to bring his shinai down on Kisshu's head, but Kisshu crossed his shinai, and caught the captain's shinai between the points of his.

The captain tried to force his shinai down, but had no luck; Kisshu didn't give an inch. In fact, Kisshu pushed the captain's shinai back, causing him to stumble. Kisshu used that opportunity to twist both his shinai around the captain's, and wrench it out of his hand. The captain literally fell over, and Kisshu asked, "Any other brilliant ideas?"

The captain shook his head mutely, and Kisshu said, "Stop telling people my girlfriend is a murderer. I have a feeling it will become hazardous to your health."

"Obviously," the captain said.

"Are you going to stop?" Kisshu asked. "Moe and Miwa have already decided the lot of you are going down the minute they set foot in the school. Maybe if you leave me and Ichigo alone, you won't get off too badly."

The captain looked at his teammates, who were getting nervous, and said, "Fine, we'll stop."

"Good," Kisshu said with a smirk. "So now I don't have to beat you up on a daily basis, right?"

"Right, we'll be staying away," the captain said.

"Glad to hear it," Kisshu said, and walked back to Ichigo, who was smiling.

"Kish, you're amazing," Ichigo said.

"Yep, and I didn't get myself arrested," Kisshu said happily. "Is there time to eat? I'm hungry."

Ichigo giggled. "We've got ten minutes," she said. "You're always hungry."

"Yup," Kisshu said. He took an apple out of his bag, and went over to a tree, followed by Ichigo, who took out a tuna fish sandwich.

"You have fish?" Kisshu asked.

"Don't you have a sandwich?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu looked, and said, "I think I forgot it."

"Here, have some of mine," Ichigo said. She gave him half her sandwich, and he smiled at her. "Thanks Koneko-chan," he said. He ate the sandwich in about two bites and went back to his apple.

The bell rang as they were finishing, and Kisshu sighed. "What's wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"I wanted to spend more time outside," Kisshu said. "At least I got to finish my apple."

"You are seriously obsessed," Ichigo said. "I don't think I've ever met anyone with such a serious obsession."

"Well, at least it's not something like those crunchy potato things," Kisshu said as they walked inside. "Apples are healthy. And besides, I'd never even heard of apples till I came here."

Ichigo smiled. "You're right, and I think the obsession is kind of cute," she said.

Kisshu smiled happily as they went into the classroom.

**There's more coming soon! Review, and tell me what you think! But please don't flame if for some odd reason you don't like it. **


	16. Unexpected

**Neko Chapter 16:**

**Unexpected**

Ichigo and Kisshu noticed that there was quite a bit of snickering going on in class after recess, but unfortunately it was quiet snickering, so the five-hundred-year-old Japanese teacher didn't hear it.

They managed to get through class anyways, and on the way out, they noticed more snickerers in the halls. Finally Ichigo went up to a girl and asked, "Why is everyone snickering?"

"The captain of the kendo team got his ass kicked by the new guy, and now everyone's laughing about it," the girl said. "Hayate's becoming the laughingstock of Daikon Middle School."

"Good, he's a jerk," Ichigo said.

The girl giggled, and said, "You're not the only one who thinks that. My friend tried dating him, and broke up with him a week later because he didn't talk about anything but kendo and himself."

"I'm not surprised, he's pretty dumb," Kisshu said. "He thinks Ichigo killed Aoyama. What an idiot."

"You're the one who creamed him, right?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, I offered to stand in for Moe and Miwa and beat up anyone who insults Ichigo," Kisshu said. "Shouldn't we get to class?"

Ichigo and the girl squeaked, and ran for it, Kisshu just behind them. It turned out they were in the same class, but as usual, Kisshu and Ichigo just worked through it.

They saw the girl in their next class too, noticing she was about the only one besides them who was actually working. It was the last class of the day, and when the bell rang, the girl came up to them and asked, "Do you want to walk together? I've seen you on my street before, I think you live nearby."

"Um, sure," Ichigo said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Satsuki," the girl said. "Taika Satsuki. You're Momomiya Ichigo, right?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "Nice to meet you. This is Ikisatashi Kisshu, my boyfriend."

"So you get to live together?" Satsuki asked.

"Yep, Ichigo's parents adopted me," Kisshu said, as they walked out of the building. Unfortunately, they were met by two guys from the kendo team. "You made a laughingstock of our captain!" one of them said angrily.

"I didn't ask him to attack me," Kisshu said. "It's not my fault I'm better than he is."

The guys snarled and launched themselves at Kisshu, who dodged easily as Ichigo and Satsuki moved back.

One of the guys grabbed Kisshu's arm, twisting it behind his back as the other guy raised his fist. Ichigo and Satsuki looked at each other, and ran over. Ichigo leaped on the guy who was trying to punch Kisshu before his punch hit, and Satsuki kicked the other one in the place the sun doesn't shine. He let go of Kisshu's arm with a howl of pain, then fell over.

Ichigo, meanwhile, had knocked the guy she had jumped on out, and ran back over to Kisshu and Satsuki. "Kish, are you okay?" she asked.

"My shoulder hurts," Kisshu said. "I think that jerk dislocated it."

"Let me see," Satsuki said. She went over and gently felt Kisshu's shoulder, then asked, "Where does it hurt the most?"

Kisshu pointed to a spot near his neck, and said, "Right there."

"I'd say it's dislocated," Satsuki said. "Stay still for a minute." As Kisshu obeyed, she took his arm, then maneuvered his shoulder back into place with a pop. Kisshu flinched, then looked startled. "It doesn't hurt," he said. "Thanks."

"Sure," Satsuki said. "My parents are doctors, so I have some medical knowledge. And I want to be a doctor too. You shouldn't use that arm too much for about a week, and don't lift anything heavy. It'll cause your shoulder to dislocate itself again."

"Okay, thank you," Kisshu said.

Satsuki smiled and said, "Sure. Let's go home."

Kisshu and Ichigo followed her out the gates, and headed toward their street.

As they walked, Satsuki asked, "So how'd you get your parents to take in your boyfriend, Ichigo? I don't know anyone who would let their daughter do that."

"My mom saw that I got miserable every time Kish left, so she decided to take him in, since he was living with his brothers," Ichigo said. "And she kept my dad under control by making him sleep in the garage if he started ranting."

Satsuki giggled and asked, "Is your dad overprotective?"

"To the point of insane," Ichigo sighed. "But he eventually warmed up to Kish. The only thing he doesn't like is the lack of bananas. Luckily my mom and I are sick of them anyways."

"Bananas?" Satsuki asked.

"I'm severely allergic to them," Kisshu said. "I can't even stand the smell without throwing up."

"That sounds bad," Satsuki said.

Kisshu shuddered. "The one time I ate one, I was sick for two days, and my brother had quite the time trying to get my fever down," Kisshu said. "Not to mention I couldn't stop throwing up. I can't even be near bananas."

"I've heard of some severe allergic reactions, but I think that's the worst I've heard of," Satsuki said. "Do you like other fruit?"

"Apples," Kisshu said.

"Kish is completely obsessed with apples," Ichigo said. "We go through a bag a week- sometimes more."

"That's not a bad obsession," Satsuki said. "It's better than smoking."

"Smoking?" Kisshu asked. "What's that?"

"Inhaling tobacco smoke," Ichigo said. "Disgusting habit, if you ask me."

"That does sound gross," Kisshu said. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Beats me," Ichigo said. "And it's horrible for your health. It can give you all sorts of lung diseases."

"Yuck," Kisshu said.

They had reached their street, and Satsuki said, "I live farther down than you guys, so maybe I'll see you tomorrow."

"K, bye," Ichigo said. Satsuki smiled and kept walking as Kisshu and Ichigo turned into their driveway, and went inside.

Sakura came downstairs, and asked, "How'd it go?"

"Well, it could have been worse," Ichigo sighed. "The kendo team is out to get me, and now that Kisshu beat the captain, they're probably out to get Kisshu as well. I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes before telling the principal he needs to bring Moe and Miwa back."

"Who was that you were walking with?" Sakura asked.

"Taika Satsuki, she seems nice," Ichigo said. "And she helped us when two of the kendo team members attacked on our way out."

"Good," Sakura said. "Maybe you've got a new friend."

"That would be kind of nice," Kisshu said. "She also helped me; one of the guys dislocated my shoulder, and she fixed it."

"That was nice of her," Sakura said.

"She said she wants to be a doctor, and both her parents are doctors," Ichigo said.

"Interesting," Sakura said. "That's a good profession, though. Do you have homework?"

"Not much," Kisshu said. "I guess we'll go get started."

"Good," Sakura said.

Suddenly Ichigo's cell phone rang, and she picked up, seeing it was Keiichiro. "Moshi moshi?" Ichigo said.

"_Ichigo, it's Keiichiro," _Keiichiro said. _"There's some kind of energy signal that the computers are detecting, and it's close to you. I don't think it's a new enemy, though. I don't know exactly what it is, but it seems to be on your street. And I think it's a human, but why this person is giving off a signal is beyond me. I'll let you know if I know more, but I think you might want to check it out."_

An idea struck Ichigo, and she asked, "Do you know if the person was close to me and/or Kisshu at any point?"

"_Let me check," _Keiichiro said. There was silence for a minute, then Keiichiro said, _"Yes, it appears the person was close to both of you until about fifteen minutes ago."_

"We were walking home with a girl from school," Ichigo said. "She lives on this street, but I'm not sure which house."

"_What's her name?" _Keiichiro asked.

"Taika Satsuki," Ichigo said. "But why would she be giving off an energy signal?"

"_Are her parents the ones who run the Taika Medical Clinic?" _Keiichiro asked.

"She just said her parents are doctors," Ichigo replied. "Do you know them?"

"_I know her mother," _Keiichiro said. _"We met in college, before I met Professor Shirogane. Maybe I should go see them. I'll keep you posted, but if you continue seeing her, be careful, because the energy signal is a bit uncontrolled. That suggests that she has some kind of power, but absolutely no control over whatever it is."_

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Good luck with her parents."

"_Thanks," _Keiichiro said, and hung up.

Ichigo sighed and looked at her mother and Kisshu. "What was that about?" Kisshu asked.

"Keiichiro says his computers indicate that Satsuki is giving off some kind of energy signal for some reason," Ichigo said. "He also says to be careful, because she apparently has absolutely no control over whatever her power is."

"That's odd," Kisshu said. "I didn't sense anything, did you?"

"No, but we weren't really paying attention to that," Ichigo said. "We were busy chatting."

"True," Kisshu said. "But if she's got some uncontrolled power, that could be dangerous."

"Keiichiro says he knows her mom from college," Ichigo said. "Apparently he's going to talk to her." Suddenly it looked like she had an idea.

Kisshu noticed, and asked, "What's up?"

"Moe and Miwa know a lot about almost everyone at the school," Ichigo said. "I think I'll ask Miwa if she knows anything about Satsuki."

"Have fun, but don't forget to do your homework," Sakura said.

"We won't," Kisshu said as he followed Ichigo upstairs.

They sat down on Ichigo's bed, and Ichigo dialed Miwa's number, then pressed speakerphone. When Miwa picked up, she immediately asked, _"How was it today?"_

"It could have been worse," Ichigo said. "But that's not why I called."

"_What's up?" _Miwa asked.

"Do you know anything about Taika Satsuki?" Ichigo asked.

"_She's about the only girl in the school besides you who we don't hate," _Miwa said. _"She's pretty sweet and quiet, and usually keeps to herself. I don't think she really hangs out with anyone very much, but she has a few friends. I get the sense that her 'friends' may just be hanging out with her because they feel sorry for her, but I'm not positive on that. Other than that, I don't know much about her, and I doubt Moe knows any more. Why do you ask?"_

"She helped us out with the kendo team today after school, and we walked home together," Ichigo said. "But soon after we parted, Keiichiro called, and said that for some reason, she's giving off some kind of energy signal. He also thinks she has power, but no control over her power. He's currently trying to get in touch with her mom; apparently they were friends in college."

"_Wow, I never would have guessed," _Miwa said. _"I wonder why she has some kind of power, and what it is?"_

"I don't have a clue," Ichigo said. "I don't think she's a Mew Mew, but you never know."

"_Well, I hope Keiichiro can figure it out," _Miwa said.

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "I've got to go do homework, talk to you soon."

"_Ja ne," _Miwa said, and hung up.

"I guess we just have to wait," Kisshu said when Ichigo looked at him.

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "Let's get started on our homework."

They got their homework out, and started doing it together. It went much faster that way, and they both got it done pretty easily.

As they were finishing, both of them felt a jolt, and looked at each other. "What was that?" Ichigo asked. "It felt like an electric shock in my head."

Kisshu closed his eyes, concentrating, and finally said, "I can sense where the power source is, but not _what _it is, though I'm guessing it has something to do with Satsuki."

"Can you teleport us to the source?" Ichigo asked.

"Good idea," Kisshu said, then went and got his boots, while Ichigo grabbed a pair of sneakers. Then Kisshu teleported to the source of the energy.

They had barely landed when they heard a scream, and spun. Satsuki was standing behind them, but she didn't seem to notice them; she was staring off into space. What startled them was that Satsuki was glowing blue, sort of like Mew Aqua. Kisshu and Ichigo hesitantly started to walk toward her, but stopped when she started to float up. The blue glow around her started to spread out, and tendrils of it reached out for Ichigo and Kisshu. The glow didn't feel evil, so Ichigo and Kisshu stood still. One of the tendrils reached out, wrapping itself gently over Kisshu's shoulder. The tendril broke off from the rest, and flashed, then faded into Kisshu's shoulder. Kisshu looked startled, and said, "My shoulder isn't sore anymore."

The glow started to fade, but before it was gone, Satsuki, who was still floating, began to fall. Kisshu teleported under her and caught her as the glow vanished. Ichigo ran over, and asked, "Is she okay?"

"Looks like she's waking up," Kisshu said, then asked softly, "Satsuki?"

Satsuki opened her eyes. "Kisshu? Ichigo? What happened?" she asked, puzzled.

"Um… you were glowing," Ichigo said, as Kisshu set Satsuki down.

"I was?" Satsuki asked. "I remember walking out after some guy visited my parents, but I don't know what happened next."

"We came here and found you staring off into space, and you were surrounded by this blue glow," Kisshu said. "Then you started floating, and part of the glow broke off and wrapped itself around my shoulder."

"How is your shoulder?" Satsuki asked.

"It's fine, I think the glow healed it," Kisshu said. "Which I'm glad of, because otherwise, I think catching you would have hurt."

"Oh…" Satsuki said.

"Satsuki, why did you walk out?" Ichigo asked.

"The guy who visited my parents said that I was giving off an energy signal," Satsuki said. "And then he said something about Tokyo Mew Mew, and aliens, and me having some weird power, and I got scared and ran out."

"The guy didn't happen to have a really long brown ponytail, did he?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Satsuki asked.

"He called us earlier and told us he'd be going to your house," Ichigo said. "He wasn't able to find out what the energy signal on our street was until he checked to see if it had been near me and Kisshu recently, and then he said it had, and I told him that you were the only one nearby us that could be giving off a signal. Why, I don't know. Maybe we should take you home, is that okay?"

"Y-yeah," Satsuki said. "How do you know that guy?"

"It's an extremely long story that will be better told if he's around to help tell it," Kisshu said. "Let's get you home."

"K," Satsuki said.

They walked her back to her house, and saw Keiichiro's car in the driveway. Kisshu and Ichigo followed Satsuki as she said, "You should come in, he's still here."

"Okay, thanks," Ichigo said.

Satsuki went up to the door and opened it, then let Ichigo and Kisshu in and closed the door behind them.

They heard running footsteps, and a woman with the same eyes as Satsuki came running out. "Satsuki, where were you?" she asked worriedly.

"According to Kisshu and Ichigo, floating in midair," Satsuki said gloomily.

Keiichiro and another man came in, and looked relieved. "I'm glad you three are safe," Keiichiro said.

"Does anyone want to explain any of this to me?" Satsuki asked.

"We tried," Satsuki's mother said. "You ran away."

"I'm some kind of freak, right?" Satsuki asked gloomily.

"Join the club," Kisshu said. "Although I think 'freak' isn't a great way to describe yourself. I thought you'd be happy about your new power, considering your career choice."

Keiichiro looked startled, and asked, "You figured it out?"

"Hai, it looks like Satsuki has the ability to heal," Kisshu said. "Part of the glow around her broke off and wrapped around my shoulder, which got dislocated earlier today, and now it doesn't hurt at all."

Satsuki's mother came over, and put her hand on Kisshu's shoulder, feeling the muscles there. Her eyes widened, and she said, "You're right, it's like it never got dislocated at all."

"So I can heal people?" Satsuki asked.

"Looks like it," her mother said. "But there's still a lot you don't know about medicine and people's bodies. And your dad and I can't teach you to heal."

"I have an idea," Kisshu said. "Pai could probably teach her. It's good to get power under control quickly, because power going out of control usually results in disaster."

"Who's Pai?" Satsuki asked.

"My older brother," Kisshu said. "He knows how to heal too."

"Oh…" Satsuki said. "So what was that about Tokyo Mew Mew earlier?"

_**~One long explanation later~**_

"So my new friends are Mew Ichigo and an alien, I have the power to heal, and I need to keep all of this from my other friends?" Satsuki asked.

"Yes," Keiichiro said. "The only other people at your school who know anything about Kisshu and Ichigo are Moe and Miwa, and they're sworn to secrecy as well. And the only reason they know is that they've sworn to protect Ichigo from everyone who would harm her or Kisshu, and they've known each other since they were three. We can't tell too many people, or you'll all get dissected."

"I don't want to get dissected," Satsuki said. "I won't tell. Can I talk about it with these guys, though?"

"Sure, as long as you don't get overheard," Keiichiro said. "I have to go talk to Pai about training you, so I'll come back when I know more. Kisshu, Ichigo, you might want to get home before your mom freaks."

"Good point," Kisshu said. "Satsuki, we'll see you at school tomorrow."

"K," Satsuki said.

Kisshu took Ichigo's hand and teleported back to the living room.

**Nice long chapter there. Hopefully you like my new OC, and her cool power. Review and tell me what you think! Just don't flame if you don't like it for some reason….**


	17. Remembering

**Neko Chapter 17:**

**Remembering**

Kisshu teleported Ichigo back to the living room, and Sakura came in. "Where were you?" she asked.

"We both felt something," Ichigo said. "It turned out to be Satsuki, and we discovered her power is healing. Then we took Satsuki home, and explained the whole Mews, aliens and special powers thing to her, and then Kish teleported us back here."

"She can heal?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, and it looks like she's pretty powerful," Kisshu said. "I should talk to Pai; he's the only one who can train her."

"Let's have dinner first," Sakura said. "I just finished the meatballs."

"Pasta and meatballs?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

"Yep," Sakura said. "Come eat."

Kisshu and Ichigo followed her to the table, where Shintaro was waiting. They all sat down together, and Sakura asked, "Did you two finish your homework?"

"Yep," Ichigo said. "It goes faster when we do it together."

"Good," Sakura said, dishing them all out some pasta with meatballs and sauce.

"This is good," Kisshu said happily after his first bite.

"I'm glad," Sakura said. "I made some apple crisp again, so you can have some for dessert."

Kisshu's face lit up, and Ichigo giggled. "You love apple crisp, don't you?" Ichigo asked.

"Yep," Kisshu said happily. "I think it's my favorite apple dessert."

"I'm going to switch to chocolate for a while after tonight, but you can still have apples in your lunch," Sakura said.

"As long as there are apples, I don't mind," Kisshu said. "I love chocolate too. Human food is so much better than ours."

"Yours isn't very good?" Ichigo asked.

"It's okay, but there's never enough," Kisshu said. "That's why I like living here; there's tons of food."

"You're always hungry, aren't you?" Shintaro asked.

"Yup," Kisshu said. "I don't know why, though."

"I don't know about Cyniclons, but human boys your age in general are always hungry because they're still growing," Sakura said. "My brother was like that. He never stopped eating. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have a fast metabolism, so he got kind of overweight."

"Uncle Tano is a lot thinner now," Ichigo commented.

"He started exercising more after he realized he really was too overweight," Sakura said.

They finished dinner a while later, and Sakura made Shintaro do the dishes again. Ichigo and Kisshu went back to Ichigo's room, just as Pai teleported in. "Hi Pai," Kisshu said. "What's up?"

"I've been informed that I'm supposed to start training a friend of yours how to heal," Pai said. "But Keiichiro also wants her to learn how to defend herself, so I decided to come ask you two to teach her self-defense."

"Hand-to-hand?" Kisshu asked.

"Hai," Pai said.

"And you can't teach her this because…" Kisshu said.

"You're way better at hand-to-hand fighting than I am," Pai said. "I think she should learn fighting from you and/or Ichigo, and healing from me."

Kisshu sighed. "Okay, are we doing this on the ship?" he asked.

"Yes," Pai said. "You three should come tomorrow after school."

"Alright," Kisshu said. "Does Satsuki know about this?"

"Hai, I told her and her parents," Pai said.

"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow," Kisshu said. Pai nodded and teleported out. "I wonder why Keiichiro wants Satsuki to learn hand-to-hand fighting," Kisshu said. "Healers don't normally fight, it's too risky for the rest of us if they get injured, because then they can't heal."

"Pai said it's self-defense," Ichigo commented. "Maybe it's just in case she gets attacked or something. After all, the rest of us can fight, so she might need that too."

"Maybe," Kisshu said.

"Speaking of fighting, I've been meaning to ask you something," Ichigo said.

"What is it?" Kisshu asked.

"Can you teach me how to use swords too?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu looked startled, and asked, "You want to learn to use swords?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "I know hand-to-hand fighting, but it would be cool to be able to use swords. When you do it, it looks amazing."

"You want to learn two at once, or just one?" Kisshu asked.

"Two at once," Ichigo said.

"I think I can do that," Kisshu said. "We can start tomorrow, k?"

"Sure," Ichigo said.

"I think we should do it while Satsuki's learning to heal, so I can focus on her hand-to-hand training when we're doing that," Kisshu said. "Do you want to help her learn hand-to-hand fighting?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. "I don't mind helping."

"I can teach her moves, but I think you'd be a better sparring partner for her than I would," Kisshu said. "I'd have to go really easy on her, and I have trouble with that sometimes."

"Were you going easy on me when we were still enemies?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "And that was sometimes kind of hard, but I didn't want you to die. Pai was always annoyed with me, because I'm the best warrior on Cyniclonia, and he was doing better than me. If I didn't love you, it would have been really easy to just kill the lot of you, but I didn't want to do that. And I'm glad I didn't, because Deep Blue would have destroyed everything had I succeeded in my mission."

"You're the best warrior on your planet?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "I started when I was seven, a year after my parents died, and by the time I was ten, the instructors had stopped teaching me, because I was better than them."

"That's incredible," Ichigo said.

"I didn't like it," Kisshu said. "Everyone was jealous of me, and my friends deserted me because they thought I thought I was better than them. The only good thing about being the best was that I got sent to Earth, and I met you."

"I'm glad you were sent to Earth, because I got to meet you," Ichigo said. "I love you, Kish."

Kisshu sighed. "I wish I had realized that sooner," he said. "Maybe we could have gotten together sooner if I had realized that- and not called you a toy."

"Why did you call me a toy?" Ichigo asked.

"I thought it made you angry, and I think you look really cute when you're angry," Kisshu said. "I wish I hadn't. At least I had Taruto and Pai to talk to about loving you; you didn't have anyone."

"I had Lettuce," Ichigo said. "She was going through the same thing, so we'd talk in secret about our totally screwed up love lives. We were there for each other, and she was basically the only thing that kept me alive through the last few months. She was the one who dragged me out of Ryou's lab one day because I got really depressed after one of our battles, and basically decided that since you hated me, I wasn't really worth having around anymore. Lettuce literally dragged me out of the lab before I could find anything poisonous. She told Ryou I wasn't feeling well, and dragged me to Inohara Park. I was glad she was there, because I literally couldn't stop crying. I can't count how many lies we told Ryou when we got sad. We'd tell him we felt sick, that we had some kind of family emergency, that I had sprained my wrist and couldn't wait tables- and then we'd run to Inohara Park and find some secluded place to either talk or just hug each other and cry. I think I did more crying than she did, though."

When Ichigo turned back to Kisshu, he looked horrified. "You tried to kill yourself?" he whispered.

"I didn't get that far, but not for lack of trying," Ichigo sighed. "I guess we're both lucky Lettuce came looking for me after that battle, because otherwise, I probably would be dead. And Lettuce would probably end up being the one who had to tell you why I committed suicide. I'm kind of glad I didn't leave that job for her. I guess killing myself wouldn't really have helped, though."

She was startled when Kisshu suddenly blacked out. "Kish?" she asked, shaking him. He didn't stir, and she put her hand on his forehead, then bit her lip. Kisshu was burning up. _This is all my fault, _she thought miserably. _I shouldn't have told him I tried to commit suicide over him. Guess I'd better call Pai. _

She got her cell phone, and dialed a number, then waited. After three rings, she heard, _"Ichigo?"_

"Hi Pai," Ichigo said glumly. "Something's wrong with Kish, can you come over?"

"_On my way," _Pai said, and hung up. Five minutes later he teleported in and immediately asked, "What happened?"

"We were talking about when we were enemies, and I told him that after one of our battles, I got so depressed thinking he hated me that I tried to kill myself," Ichigo said. "And then he collapsed."

Pai sighed. "Probably went into emotional shock," he said. "And that means he won't be going anywhere tomorrow, much less training Satsuki how to fight. Go tell your parents you and Kisshu need to stay home tomorrow. If you don't stay, he'll start getting depressed and thinking that you don't like him."

"Got it," Ichigo said, and went downstairs. She found her parents watching TV, and as they looked up, she said, "Kish isn't doing too well, and Pai says he needs to rest tomorrow, and that I need to stay with him, or he'll get depressed."

"What happened?" Sakura asked, worried.

"He went into emotional shock from something I told him," Ichigo said sadly. "Can you let the school know tomorrow that Kish and I won't be in?"

"Okay," Sakura said.

"Thanks," Ichigo said.

Pai came into the room a minute later, and said, "I healed the fever, but he's going to need to rest for at least tomorrow. And Ichigo needs to stay with him, or he'll start thinking she doesn't like him. And then he'll probably teleport off somewhere, and I'll end up dragging him back here."

"I understand," Sakura said. "I'll tell the school they're sick."

"Good," Pai said. "I'll try to come by some time tomorrow to check on Kisshu."

"Thanks," Sakura said.

Pai nodded and said, "Ichigo, you should go back to him; it's late anyways."

"K," Ichigo said. She headed back upstairs and went to her room, where Kisshu was asleep. Ichigo climbed in next to him, and turned out the light.

The next morning, she woke up before Kisshu, and looked over at him. He looked kind of unhappy, so she started stroking his hair. He sighed in his sleep and leaned into her hand, looking happier. When Ichigo tried to sit up, though, she noticed Kisshu's arms were locked around her waist, and his grip tightened when she moved. Ichigo tried laying still again, except for stroking Kisshu's hair, and his grip relaxed a bit. _So if I move, he tries to hang on, but if I lay still, he doesn't seem as desperate? _Ichigo wondered. _I guess he doesn't want me to leave even in his sleep._ She sighed softly, and continued stroking Kisshu's hair.

About half an hour later, Kisshu started to wake up, and noticed Ichigo stroking his hair. _Wait, why am I in here? I thought I had decided to go back to my room last night. _Suddenly memory came back to him, and he thought, _Now I remember; I blacked out after Ichigo told me she had tried to kill herself. I guess I went into shock after that; I feel really weak._

Ichigo had stopped stroking his hair when her arm got tired, and decided to try sitting up again. She gently eased herself into a sitting position, noticing Kisshu was starting to wake up. "Kish?" she asked softly.

Kisshu opened his eyes. "Koneko-chan?" he asked. "Do you still love me?"

"Of course," Ichigo said. "I'll always love you."

"Why?" Kisshu asked sadly. "I hurt you so much…."

"But in the end you made me happy, and I'm much happier now that I know you love me," Ichigo said.

"So you're not going to kill yourself?" Kisshu asked.

"No, I'm not," Ichigo said. "I have you, and that's really all I need. I love you, Kish."

"I love you too…." Kisshu said.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Ichigo asked.

"I feel pretty weak, but I think I can sit up," Kisshu said. "I doubt I can walk, though."

"You had a pretty bad fever last night, but Pai took care of it," Ichigo said. "He said you need to rest today, though. Mom said she'd call both of us in sick."

"You'll stay?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo smiled. "Of course I'll stay," she said.

Kisshu sighed and sat up, leaning against the headboard of the bed for support. "Are you hungry?" Ichigo asked him.

"A little," Kisshu said.

"Do you want me to see what there is to eat downstairs?" Ichigo asked.

"Will you come back?" Kisshu asked.

"Of course," Ichigo said. "I'm just going to get us something to eat and come back, k?"

"K…" Kisshu said.

Ichigo ruffled his hair and went downstairs. She found Sakura in the kitchen, and said, "Morning Mom."

"Oh, you're up?" Sakura said. "How's Kisshu?"

"He's acting pretty clingy," Ichigo said. "And he says he doesn't think he can walk. He's able to sit up, though. We're both kind of hungry, what is there?"

"Brown sugar oatmeal muffins," Sakura said. "You can each have two, k?"

"K, thanks," Ichigo said. She got two plates, and put two muffins on each. Then she took the plates upstairs and back to her room.

Kisshu was still sitting up, but he had buried his face in his hands, and his shoulders were shaking.

Worried by this, Ichigo set the plates down and went to the bed, sitting down next to Kisshu. "Kish, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm horrible…" Kisshu moaned.

"You're not horrible, you just didn't understand my feelings," Ichigo said softly. "It was a mistake, that's all."

"That 'mistake' almost killed you!" Kisshu wailed.

Ichigo pulled Kisshu into her arms, hugging him tightly. He buried his face in her shoulder as he hugged back, clinging to her. Ichigo felt his tears soak into her shirt as she said, "Kish, listen to me. Are you listening?"

"Mhm…" Kisshu mumbled into her shirt.

"Kish, the past doesn't matter to me anymore," Ichigo said. "What matters is that you love me now. If you really love me, you should trust me on that, and not get so depressed. I know it was hard hearing all that last night, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you that. But I want you to remember that I'll always love you, and that I don't think of you as a horrible person, k?"

Kisshu took his face out of Ichigo's shoulder, and looked at her. She smiled at him reassuringly, and asked, "Are you still hungry? Mom made muffins."

"Yeah…" Kisshu said. "What kind of muffins?"

"Brown sugar oatmeal, I like them," Ichigo said.

"K," Kisshu said, slightly more cheerful. "Is it okay to eat here?"

"Of course, I brought the muffins up here," Ichigo said. "Mom said two each."

"K," Kisshu said.

Ichigo handed him a plate, and they started breakfast.

**If you don't like this, just don't flame me, k? I know it's kind of sad, and I know Kisshu is sick again, but he'll be better next chapter- hopefully. **


	18. Healing and School

**Neko Chapter 18:**

**Healing and School**

When they finished the muffins, Ichigo took their plates downstairs. She went straight back to Kisshu, who was looking tired again.

"Kish, get some more rest," Ichigo said. "You look really tired."

"Will you stay?" Kisshu asked.

"Of course," Ichigo said. She climbed back onto the bed and sat next to Kisshu as he settled back against the pillows. Then she started stroking his hair, which put him to sleep pretty quickly.

Four hours later, Ichigo was a bit worried; Kisshu hadn't even stirred. She had stopped stroking his hair about two hours ago; her arm was really tired.

Just as she was wondering if she should call Pai, teleportation sounded, and Pai teleported in with Satsuki. "How's Kisshu?" Pai asked softly.

"He woke up this morning, and said he can sit up, but doesn't think he can walk," Ichigo said softly. "He got tired after breakfast, and he's been sleeping since about 11."

"I decided to see if Satsuki is able to heal the weakness," Pai said. "I think she might be more powerful than me, and this will show me a little more."

"Okay," Ichigo said.

Pai nodded, and told Satsuki, "Put your hand over his heart."

Satsuki obeyed, and Pai said, "Try to feel what the problem is. Closing your eyes usually helps."

Satsuki closed her eyes, and appeared to be concentrating. "It feels like the weakness is from shock," she said. "If I heal the shock, I think he'll be able to walk again."

"Try it," Pai said. "And remember, concentration is the key in healing. You have to want this to work more than anything."

Satsuki nodded, then seemed to be concentrating again. At first nothing happened, but then her hand began to glow. At first the glow seemed to be flickering, but then it steadied out. A while later, it began to fade, and when it was gone, Satsuki opened her eyes. "I felt the weakness go away," she said.

"I'll check," Pai said. "You might be able to do this too." He put a hand on Kisshu's chest, and said, "You're right, he'll be back to full strength when he wakes up."

"So you're able to check whether it worked or not?" Satsuki asked.

"Yes," Pai said. "To do that, all you have to do is what you did to sense what the problem was. After you finish healing whatever it was, take your hand away, then put it back on, so you can sense whether it worked or not."

"I'll remember that," Satsuki said.

"Kisshu has to sleep off the healing, so we can go now," Pai said. "By the way, how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine," Satsuki said. "I'm not even tired."

Pai put his hand on her forehead, then said, "I'm impressed, you've still got a lot of power and energy to spare. I guess I was right, you are more powerful than I am. I'm going to take you home now; we can work on injuries tomorrow."

"Okay," Satsuki said. "Ichigo, it was nice to see you and Kisshu."

"Thanks, I think we'll be seeing you at school tomorrow," Ichigo said.

"Yup, Kisshu can go back tomorrow," Pai said. "He should be awake in about two to three hours."

"Okay, thanks both of you," Ichigo said.

"Sure," Satsuki said. Pai took her hand, and teleported off. Ichigo settled down next to Kisshu again, and waited for him to wake up.

It took another two hours, but Kisshu woke up and immediately asked, "What happened?"

"Pai brought Satsuki here and she healed you," Ichigo said. "Pai says she's more powerful than he is."

"Wow," Kisshu said. "I feel a lot stronger."

"Pai said you were back to full strength, and we can go back to school tomorrow," Ichigo said.

"Okay," Kisshu said. "I'm hungry, can we get something to eat?"

"Sure," Ichigo said.

Kisshu got up, and he and Ichigo walked downstairs. Sakura was making dinner when they walked into the kitchen, and she looked up, startled. "Kish, you're feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah, apparently Satsuki healed the weakness I had from going into shock," Kisshu said. "Koneko-chan says Pai told her that I'm back to full strength, and we can go back to school tomorrow. That doesn't sound fun…"

"Well, at least you've got Satsuki, and she knows about you," Sakura said. "One more person to share the secret, and she's got power as well."

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "What's for dinner?"

"Breaded chicken and mashed potatoes," Sakura said. "And salad."

Ichigo and Kisshu groaned. "I hate salad…." they said together.

"You don't have to have a lot, but you need to eat some," Sakura said firmly. "It's good for you."

Kisshu and Ichigo sighed.

They ate dinner together that night, and Ichigo and Kisshu went to bed a while later.

The next morning they woke up at the same time, having decided to sleep together the night before. Neither of them were looking forward to school, but they got ready and left nonetheless.

As they were walking out the door, they heard someone calling their names, and turned to see Satsuki running up to them. When she reached them, she asked, "Can we walk together?"

"Of course, we're going to the same place," Kisshu said. Satsuki smiled and started walking with them as they headed to school.

"Pai said I need to learn how to heal injuries next," Satsuki said as they walked. "He also said you two are going to be teaching me self-defense. I hope you don't mind."

"We don't mind, but it puzzles me," Kisshu said. "Usually healers don't learn how to fight, since if they get injured, the rest of us could be screwed."

"Pai didn't explain it either," Satsuki said. "Oh well."

"Just so you know, Ichigo is going to be your partner for sparring," Kisshu said. "I'll show you how to do moves, but I'm not going to be sparring with you."

"Okay, but why?" Satsuki asked.

"I have trouble going easy on people while sparring, and if I used my full power, you'd most likely end up seriously injured, since you're just starting out," Kisshu said. "When Ichigo and I were fighting, I was going easy on her, even though sometimes it was hard work. But I didn't want her to die, so I went easy on her even when it was hard. If I had used my full power on the Mews, they'd all be dead."

"You must be really strong," Satsuki commented.

"I am, but it's not very fun being the best at everything," Kisshu said. "And we just reached the school, so let's talk at recess. I think me and Ichigo, at least, should eat somewhere other than the schoolyard."

"How about the roof?" Satsuki suggested.

"Okay, that sounds great," Kisshu said. "Let's eat there. You didn't bring any bananas, did you?"

"No, I remembered what you said about your allergy," Satsuki said. "And I told my parents that I can't bring bananas in anymore. Luckily they're doctors and understand allergies; some parents would want their kids to bring fruit no matter what, and bananas are cheap year-round."

"Oh…" Kisshu said as they went to their first class. Ichigo and Satsuki sat down on either side of Kisshu, which made it harder for fan girls to pass him notes. They all had noticed the dreamy stares Kisshu was getting already.

Unfortunately for the two girls, the other girls thought they could convince Ichigo and Satsuki to pass notes to Kisshu for them. Boy were they wrong. One girl tapped Ichigo on the shoulder with a note. Ichigo took the note and quietly ripped it up. Then she went back to work, knowing the girl couldn't complain to the teacher. Note-passing wasn't allowed.

Another girl put a note on Satsuki's desk, hoping she'd be more willing to help, and whispered, "Can you pass this to Kisshu?"

Satsuki took the note and crumpled it up, then smiled sweetly at the girl. This one didn't seem too smart; she said out loud, "What was that for, Satsuki?"

The teacher turned and asked, "What is going on?"

Satsuki held up the note she had crumpled, and said, "She's mad because I didn't give this to Kisshu for her. I was trying to be helpful, since note-passing isn't allowed. I guess she doesn't care about school rules."

"Apparently," the teacher said, scowling at the girl. "Miss Yushi, you now are in detention for the rest of the week. Any more misbehavior, and it can be next week as well."

The girl sighed, but didn't argue. The teacher resumed the lesson, and till the bell rang, there were no more problems.

As Ichigo, Kisshu and Satsuki walked out of the classroom after the bell, a boy came up to them, looking rather unhappy. "Why was my girlfriend trying to pass you notes?" he asked Kisshu.

"Beats me," Kisshu said. "Please ask her to stop, I already have a girlfriend, and I'm not going to dump Ichigo to be with your rather unfaithful girlfriend."

The boy sighed. "I'll go have a word with her," he said. "Watch yourself, the girls here get competitive whether you have a girlfriend or not."

"I'll keep it in mind, thanks," Kisshu said, and headed to the next class, followed by Ichigo and Satsuki.

This teacher stood up as the class settled down, and said, "Your first period teacher has warned me that some of you are attempting to get around the school's no note-passing rule, and I will tell you now that if you pass notes to anyone, you will be in detention for the rest of the week. Now, let's start the lesson."

The class was well-behaved after that little speech, so there were no problems. The next class, however, heated up pretty quickly, since the teacher was about five hundred years old and couldn't see or hear too well anymore.

The girl in front of Ichigo started writing while the teacher's back was turned, and Ichigo, Kisshu and Satsuki mentally groaned. This girl just put the note on Ichigo's desk, assuming that since it was neatly labeled, 'For Kisshu', that Ichigo would pass it to Kisshu. She was, of course, dead wrong.

Ichigo took the note, opened it up, and read it. She shuddered, and crumpled the note into a tiny ball. Then she put it in her desk to be thrown out later.

Satsuki had noticed Ichigo's new strategy, so when she got a request, she did the same. Luckily the other girls in the class had seen this, and decided to play it safe.

Finally the bell for recess rung, and Ichigo, Kisshu and Satsuki left, unaware that they were being followed by the girl who had tried to get Ichigo to pass Kisshu a note.

Or at least, unaware till she grabbed Ichigo's arm, and spun her around, then grabbed her by the throat, and said, "You don't get to humiliate me that easily."

Ichigo couldn't reply, she was running out of air. But Kisshu and Satsuki had noticed, and ran back. Kisshu punched the girl's arm so hard it broke, and she let go of Ichigo, who was unconscious. Satsuki caught her as Kisshu snarled, "Don't ever hurt my girlfriend again. If there's a next time, I'll kill you, got it?"

The girl ran for it, and Kisshu turned back to Ichigo and Satsuki. Satsuki had a hand on Ichigo's chest, and Kisshu noticed Ichigo had bruises on her throat. "Satsuki, if you're planning on healing her, don't heal the bruises yet, or the principal won't believe us," he said softly.

"K," Satsuki said. "I don't really know what to do, so we may need to call Pai. All I can tell is that she was without air for too long."

Suddenly the principal ran up to them, and said, "What _happened_!?"

"That girl whose arm I broke tried to strangle Ichigo," Kisshu said. "Why, I don't know."

"Call home, I think you'd both be better off going home," the principal said.

Kisshu nodded and reached into Ichigo's bag, then pulled out her cell phone. He scrolled through her contacts till he found 'Home', and immediately pressed Send. Sakura picked up after two rings, and Kisshu said, "Sakura, we need you to come get us, one of the girls tried to strangle Ichigo today."

"_On my way," _Sakura said, and hung up. Kisshu snapped the phone shut, and the principal looked at him.

"Sakura's on her way," Kisshu said. "Satsuki and Ichigo have been crumpling up people's notes that they keep trying to pass me, I think it might be better if Satsuki came with us. She lives on our street."

The principal sighed. "I'll come and explain this to Mrs. Momomiya," he said.

Kisshu gently picked up Ichigo, and said, "Satsuki, can you get her bag and mine?"

"Sure," Satsuki said, and got the three bags. She, Kisshu and the principal walked to the schoolyard, Kisshu carrying Ichigo, who was still unconscious.

Sakura pulled up a few minutes later, and jumped out of the car, then ran over. "Let's go, I called Pai," she said.

"Mrs. Momomiya, would you mind keeping Kisshu and Ichigo home for a while?" the principal asked. "I think I need to get the students here in order before they get back."

"Give me a call when you think it's safe," Sakura said. "Satsuki, are you coming?"

"Hai," Satsuki said.

"Let's get going," Sakura said, and led the way to her car. Kisshu got in, putting Ichigo on his lap, and trying to stay calm. Satsuki noticed he was nervous, and asked, "Kisshu, what's wrong?"

"I still don't like cars," Kisshu said.

Satsuki nodded and said, "Scoot over a bit, I'll sit with you."

Kisshu obeyed, and Satsuki sat next to him as Sakura started the car. Kisshu jumped a bit, and Satsuki said, "Is there something that will help you calm down?"

Kisshu turned slightly pink and said, "I like being petted…"

"K," Satsuki said. She reached out as Kisshu closed his eyes, and started stroking his hair. A while later, as Sakura kept driving, Kisshu was asleep.

When they pulled into the driveway, Satsuki shook Kisshu awake, and said, "We're here."

"Thanks," Kisshu said. He got out carefully, still carrying Ichigo, and went into the house, followed by Sakura and Satsuki.

Pai was waiting, and he looked at Satsuki, who said, "As far as I can tell, she was without air for too long, but I don't really know what to do about that."

"I'll show you," Pai said. "Let's go upstairs." He went up to Ichigo's room, followed by the others. Kisshu set Ichigo down on the bed, and Pai said, "Satsuki, I'll walk you through this."

Satsuki came over, and Pai said, "Put one hand on her chest, and one on her throat, but gently." Satsuki obeyed, and Pai said, "You know what the problem is, so I want you to focus on how you can fix it, rather than what it is."

Satsuki concentrated, and suddenly her hands began to glow. Ichigo had been pretty pale, but some of the color started to come back to her face, and her somewhat ragged breathing evened out a bit. Suddenly the hand Satsuki had on Ichigo's throat began to glow a bit brighter, and the bruises started to vanish. When they were completely gone, Satsuki's hands stopped glowing, and she took them away. Then she put one back on Ichigo's chest, and said, "She should be fine when she wakes up."

"You're a fast learner," Pai said. "I was expecting to have to walk you through the bruises too, but you didn't need help with that."

"I'm glad it worked," Satsuki said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said. "Do you know how long before Koneko-chan wakes up?"

"I'd say about two to three hours," Satsuki said. "And try to keep her from doing too much right away, it won't be good for her."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "Do you want to stay too?"

"If that's okay," Satsuki said.

"Sure," Kisshu said. "You can have Ichigo's desk chair."

"What about you?" Satsuki asked.

"I'll sit with Ichigo, she likes being petted too," Kisshu said.

"I'm going to get going, call if you need me," Pai said.

"Thanks Pai," Kisshu said. Pai nodded and teleported out.

**I think I'll do the next chapter tomorrow. Review plz!**


	19. Apples

**Neko Chapter 19:**

**Apples **

Ichigo started to wake up about two hours later, by which point Kisshu was really worried. Satsuki was trying to keep him calm, with minimal success. They both sighed with relief when Ichigo started to stir.

"Koneko-chan?" Kisshu asked softly.

Ichigo opened her eyes, and looked at Kisshu. "Kish? What happened?" she asked.

"That girl tried to strangle you," Kisshu said. "Sakura came and got us, and Satsuki healed you. You should take it easy for a bit, though."

"K," Ichigo said. "Is Satsuki still here?"

"I'm here," Satsuki said, coming over.

"Thanks for healing me," Ichigo said.

"Sure," Satsuki said. "Pai says I'm a fast learner."

"Good," Ichigo said. "I'm not looking forward to going back to school…"

"We don't have to," Kisshu said. "The principal said the three of us should stay home till he gets the other students under control."

"That's good," Ichigo said. "Maybe by then Moe and Miwa will be back."

"That would be nice," Kisshu said. "The more help, the better."

"I just had an idea about the note-passing," Satsuki said.

"Let's hear it," Kisshu said.

"When Moe and Miwa get back, they, me and Ichigo can form a circle around you in class, and then the girls can't pass you notes," Satsuki said. "Ichigo and I were sitting on either side of you, but now we can have Moe and Miwa in front and in back too."

"That's a good idea," Ichigo said. "We can talk to them about it, but I'm pretty sure they'll agree to that."

"Anything that gets them to stop is fine with me," Kisshu said. "I hope that girl today got expelled, because if she didn't, she's going to get hell if she so much as looks at us again."

"I'm pretty sure strangling someone would make the principal expel them," Satsuki said.

Suddenly they heard footsteps on the stairs, and Sakura came in. "Ichigo, you woke up?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "Satsuki healed me."

"Thank you so much, Satsuki," Sakura said.

"Sure," Satsuki said. "I should probably get home now, though."

"I just got off the phone with the principal," Sakura said. "He said he'd be calling your parents too, but I thought I might as well tell you what's going on. The girl who tried to strangle Ichigo got taken away by the police, and she's also been expelled. The principal is holding an assembly tomorrow, to explain what happened. He also told me that he's giving Moe and Miwa free rein as long as they don't kill anyone. You three are welcome to fight back as well, and he's going to announce that to the entire school. Hopefully, that will stop or cut down on problems. You three are being given next week off, and so are Moe and Miwa. You'll all go back together the week after. I think that you should use that time to teach Satsuki how to defend herself, since that was going to start soon anyways."

"That sounds like a good idea," Kisshu said. He turned to Satsuki and said, "I think we should start tomorrow, is that okay?"

"That's fine," Satsuki said. "What time do you want to meet?"

Kisshu thought, then said, "11 AM. And don't eat right before coming."

"Okay, I'll be here at 11," Satsuki said. "I should get going; see you both tomorrow."

"Bye," Ichigo and Kisshu said together.

Satsuki smiled and left, followed by Sakura. Ichigo watched as Kisshu got up to close the door. "Were you okay in the car today?" she asked. "I know you don't like it."

"Satsuki helped," Kisshu said. "I told her what you usually do, and she didn't seem to mind- though that's not really surprising, since she noticed I was about to freak out again."

"Well, it's good she was able to keep you from freaking out," Ichigo said.

"You don't mind?" Kisshu asked.

"No," Ichigo said. "I don't want you to freak out, so whatever helps. And since I was unconscious, it's good that Satsuki didn't mind stroking your hair."

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "Can we go get something to eat?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. "I guess we all skipped lunch." She got up, and went downstairs with Kisshu. It smelled like chocolate, and they went to the kitchen, to find Sakura taking brownies out of the oven.

Noticing the two were looking at the pan hungrily, Sakura said, "These are for after dinner, and they need to cool anyways. Have something healthy first."

"Like an apple?" Kisshu asked.

"We're out of apples," Sakura said. "I'll get more tomorrow. For now, have some other kind of fruit, k?"

Kisshu's face fell, and he said, "No apples?"

"No, but there's strawberries and peaches," Sakura said. "I think you can go a day without eating apples."

"Are you sure about that?" Kisshu asked.

"Jeez, Kish," Ichigo said. "I think your obsession is kind of getting out of control."

Kisshu glared at her. This faded when Ichigo's eyes went really sad, and she turned and headed back upstairs. Sakura sighed, but before she could say anything, Kisshu teleported. Sakura went to Ichigo's room, and found Ichigo crying into her pillow. "Ichigo, it's not the end of the world if Kish gets angry sometimes," Sakura sighed. "He teleported off somewhere, do you want me to call Pai so he can bring him back?"

Ichigo's head snapped up, and before Sakura could say a word, Ichigo grabbed her cell phone, and ran out. Sakura was a bit stunned, but went downstairs anyways- just in time to hear the front door slam. "I wish I knew Pai's number…" Sakura muttered.

Ichigo, meanwhile, was running to Inohara Park, while at the same time waiting for Pai to pick up. After three rings, she heard, _"Ichigo?"_

"Is Kisshu in Inohara Park?" Ichigo asked between breaths.

"_I can find out; did something happen?" _Pai asked.

"Yes, I got sad because he glared at me, and Mom said he teleported," Ichigo said. "Can you see where he is?"

There was silence for a minute, then Pai said, _"He's there, and he's got his swords out for some reason."_

_Great… _Ichigo thought, then said, "I'm worried, can you get Satsuki and teleport to him? I don't think I'm going to get there in time if he's about to do what I think."

"_On it," _Pai said, and hung up. Ichigo put her cell phone back in her pocket as she ran. She was almost to the park, but the sakura tree was on the other side of the park. She reached the little forest, ran through it, and ran into the clearing- only to see Kisshu lying on the ground. _**"KISH!" **_Ichigo screamed, running over. Teleportation sounded nearby, and Pai appeared with Satsuki. They ran over as Ichigo dropped to her knees next to Kisshu. Ichigo saw that he was still breathing, but just barely. Satsuki and Pai reached them, and Pai said, "We don't have time to waste. Satsuki, I don't have time to teach you injuries. I'll heal him, but I might need some of your power too."

"Got it," Satsuki said. Pai knelt next to Kisshu, putting a hand on the wound in his chest. Pai's hand began to glow as Satsuki knelt next to him. The wound slowly started to heal, but Kisshu's breathing didn't get any better.

Five minutes later, the glow around Pai's hand began to flicker, but before he could ask Satsuki for more power, she started glowing, like the day Ichigo and Kisshu met her. The glow started to move, flowing into Kisshu's wound as Pai took his hand away. Pai and Ichigo noticed that Kisshu's breathing had become less labored, and the wound was healing pretty quickly. Five minutes later, it closed, and Satsuki slowly stopped glowing as she put her hand on Kisshu's chest again, then said, "He'll be fine."

Pai and Ichigo sighed with relief. "Thanks Satsuki," Pai said.

They noticed Kisshu was starting to wake up, and then he opened his eyes. "Why am I still alive?" he asked.

"Satsuki healed you," Pai said.

Kisshu sighed. "I did that for a reason," he said.

Before Pai could start scolding him, Ichigo screamed, "WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU KILL YOURSELF!? I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU, BUT YOU JUST DON'T SEEM TO GET THAT! DO YOU EVEN CARE THAT I WOULD PROBABLY JUST WITHER AWAY IF YOU DIED!? I KEEP TELLING YOU THAT JUST BECAUSE I GET SAD DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE HORRIBLE! EVERYONE GETS SAD! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME, KISH! AND NOW, HERE I AM, FINDING OUT THAT YOU TRIED TO KILL YOURSELF! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME!"

Kisshu, Pai and Satsuki were in shock. "Ichigo, I-" Kisshu started, but stopped when Ichigo, who was now sobbing, wailed, "You hate me, don't you?"

Kisshu really didn't know what to say, and looked at Pai for help. Pai looked helpless too; Ichigo was hysterical by now.

Satsuki pulled Ichigo into her arms and said softly, "Ichigo. Ichigo, calm down. You're going to make yourself sick."

"I don't care!" Ichigo wailed, and started sobbing again. Satsuki hugged her tighter, and Ichigo buried her face in Satsuki's shoulder, still sobbing. Satsuki started rocking back and forth, saying, "Shh… calm down, Kisshu is fine now, right? And I'm sure he doesn't hate you, he loves you."

"He tried to leave again…" Ichigo said sadly.

"As long as he's back, that's what matters," Satsuki said softly. "And he should know that he's going to get hell from me and your other friends if he tries this again. Try to calm down, k?"

Ichigo sniffed, and Satsuki said, "Deep breaths, okay? It'll help."

Ichigo obeyed, but she was starting to fall asleep. Satsuki noticed, and when Ichigo was sound asleep, she looked over at Kisshu and Pai. "Kisshu, take Ichigo home, and put her to bed," she said softly. "Pai and I will explain what happened here to her parents, but you need to stay with her. And you also need to reassure her that this won't ever happen again. If I hadn't been strong enough to heal that injury, and you had died, she would have committed suicide as well. She might be depressed for a while after this, and you're going to have to be there for her. I don't think it's going to be easy, since she's starting to convince herself that you do hate her, but you are the only one who can get her back to normal. And unless you want me to tell Moe and Miwa about this, I'd suggest not doing something like this ever again, because not only will they beat you up, I'll help them."

"I understand, and I'll be there for Ichigo," Kisshu said. "I guess I should take her home, right?"

"Yes," Satsuki said. "Pai, teleport me to the living room of their house, I'll explain this one."

"Hai," Pai said. He took her hand as Kisshu gently picked up Ichigo, and the two Cyniclons teleported to the Momomiya's house.

Kisshu landed in Ichigo's room, and gently set her down on the bed, then took her shoes off and covered her with the blankets. Then he climbed onto the bed, sitting down next to her, and started stroking her hair. She didn't start purring this time, but she leaned into his hand a bit.

Two hours later, Kisshu looked up as Sakura came in quietly. "Are you okay, Kish?" she asked softly.

"I'm fine, but I feel really bad for doing this to Ichigo," Kisshu said. "I guess I should try harder not to get depressed every time she does."

"I think that's a good idea," Sakura said. "Do you need anything?"

"Can you get a different shirt out of my room?" Kisshu asked. "I'm going to sleep in here for a while, and I have a feeling seeing this shirt will make Ichigo more sad."

"Okay," Sakura said. She left and came back with a plain black shirt, which she handed to Kisshu. He took off his bloody shirt, and put the black one on. "I'll take that and wash it," Sakura said, taking the bloody shirt.

"Thanks," Kisshu said. "I'm getting tired, can you turn off the light on your way out?"

"Sure," Sakura said. "Good night."

"Night," Kisshu said. He climbed under the covers with Ichigo as Sakura turned out the light and left, closing the door behind her. Kisshu felt Ichigo snuggle up to him in her sleep as he too went to sleep.

The next morning, Kisshu woke up before Ichigo, and noticed her arms were locked around his waist. He tried to sit up without waking her, but the minute he moved, she clung to him more tightly, and made a small, sad noise in her sleep. Kisshu settled back down, and Ichigo's grip loosened a bit. _I guess she doesn't want me to leave, even in her sleep, _he thought.

A while later, Ichigo started to wake up, and opened her eyes to see Kisshu looking at her worriedly. "Koneko-chan, are you feeling better?" he asked.

"I guess…" Ichigo said sadly. "My throat hurts…"

"I hate to say this, but that's probably from all the screaming last night," Kisshu said.

Ichigo just sighed sadly. She pulled her arms away from Kisshu, and laid back, staring at the ceiling. Kisshu carefully sat up, looking down at her. He got worried when tears started falling from her eyes again, even though she was completely silent. He ran a finger along her cheek, wiping away the tears, but they just kept coming, like a silent flood. Suddenly she whispered, so softly Kisshu almost didn't hear her, "Can I trust you?"

"With what?" Kisshu asked softly.

"My heart," Ichigo said. "It hurts…."

Those words made Kisshu's own heart break. _So I broke her heart and lost her trust last night? _he thought. Remembering what Satsuki had told him, though, he said softly, trying to keep his voice steady, "I'm going to make sure of it, Koneko-chan."

**Can Kisshu get Ichigo back to normal and regain her trust? Review and find out soon!**


	20. Trusting Each Other Again

**Neko Chapter 20:**

**Trusting Each Other Again**

By noon, it was obvious that Ichigo had gone into depression- and wasn't coming out anytime soon. She wouldn't eat, and she wouldn't talk to anyone, including Kisshu. Sakura had forced her to go take a shower and get dressed, but she came back with tearstains on her face, and didn't even put her hair up.

Kisshu was worried sick, not to mention feeling horrible that he was the cause of this. By 3 in the afternoon, he was nearly panicking. Ichigo wouldn't respond to anything he said to her, and currently she was crying silently again. Finally he called Pai, who teleported in a few minutes later looking a bit unhappy. Ichigo didn't even look up when she heard the teleportation. Pai sighed and came over, then put a hand on Ichigo's forehead. About two minutes later, he sighed and said, "There's nothing I can do about this, which you should have known already. I can't heal her mind; you're the only one who can do that, Kisshu. I can tell you it's not going to be easy; last night was really traumatic for Ichigo, and unless you've got some miracle up your sleeve, she's going to be like this for quite a while. You really tore her up this time. Just make sure she doesn't commit suicide, okay?"

"I will," Kisshu said sadly. Pai sighed and teleported back out.

Kisshu looked over at Ichigo. They were both sitting on her bed; she was refusing to leave her room, and Sakura and Shintaro had both pretty much given up trying to get her out. They decided to leave that to Kisshu- who wasn't having much luck either.

Ichigo didn't look back at Kisshu, and remained unresponsive even when he started stroking her hair. "Koneko-chan, I know this doesn't really help, but I am really sorry about last night," Kisshu said softly. "I know I hurt you, and I'm really sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Ichigo didn't respond at first, but just as Kisshu was about to say more, she whispered softly, "Trust me."

"Trust you?" Kisshu asked, puzzled.

"You didn't believe me the last time I told you you're not a horrible person," Ichigo whispered. "And this time you tried to kill yourself simply because you made me sad. I want you to trust me when I say that I love you no matter what. Any relationship should be based on trusting each other. It's not going to work if you keep thinking you're horrible, no matter how many times I tell you you're not. I want you to trust me, Kish."

Kisshu was a bit lost for words, and it was a few moments before he said, "I will."

Ichigo looked at him, and asked, "You promise?"

"I promise," Kisshu said seriously. "And I swear I'll never leave you again, Ichigo."

Ichigo looked into Kisshu's eyes, and saw that he was completely serious. She sighed, then reached out and put her hand on Kisshu's cheek. She started running her hand up and down, like she was petting a cat. Kisshu was puzzled by this, but it felt nice, and he leaned into her hand. Suddenly he started making a noise that sounded familiar, but he couldn't figure out why he was making that noise- at least until Ichigo said, "Kish, you're purring."

Kisshu looked at her, startled. He wanted to say more, but realized he was getting really tired. He yawned, and Ichigo asked, "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

Kisshu nodded, and curled up on the bed. He was asleep in less than a minute, and Ichigo continued petting him. He was still purring.

Sakura came in a while later, and noticed Kisshu sleeping, and Ichigo petting him. "Ichigo, are you feeling better?" Sakura asked softly.

"I'm feeling a lot better," Ichigo said. "I think Kish wore himself out, though."

"He's purring," Sakura said. "Is he going to be more like you? I don't remember him purring before."

"Maybe," Ichigo said. "I hope he doesn't get the ears and tail; I don't think he'd be very happy about that, and then it'd make them harder to get rid of."

Sakura sighed and said, "I'm glad you're feeling better. We were pretty worried; you've been completely unresponsive all day. Are you at all hungry?"

"Now that you mention it, I'm starving," Ichigo said. "But I don't want to leave Kish."

"I have some muffins from the other day, I'll bring some up here," Sakura said.

"Thanks," Ichigo said.

Sakura left and came back with a plate of muffins, which she handed to Ichigo. "Thanks Mom," Ichigo said.

"Sure," Sakura said. "I'll leave you two alone. Try to come down for dinner, k?"

"K," Ichigo said. Sakura smiled and left as Ichigo ate her muffins. When she was finished, she put the plate on her bedside table, and went back to petting Kisshu, who had stopped purring when she stopped petting him. He started purring again as she petted him, and she smiled for the first time since the night before's disaster.

About two hours later, Kisshu was still asleep, and still purring a bit. Ichigo had stopped petting him, but he was still purring, curled up next to her. It was almost six in the evening, and Ichigo knew dinner would be soon. With that in mind, she decided to wake up Kisshu, since he was always hungry. She put a hand on his shoulder, and gently shook him, saying, "Kish, time to wake up. It's almost dinnertime."

Kisshu sleepily opened his eyes, and yawned. "Dinner?" he asked.

Ichigo giggled. "So all I have to do to wake you up is mention food?"

Kisshu sat up, and looked at her. "Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "And I'm more relaxed; your purring is very comforting."

"Good," Kisshu said with relief. "You had me really worried, Koneko-chan."

Ichigo hugged him, burying her face in his chest as he hugged back. "I was terrified last night," Ichigo said softly. "Please don't scare me like that again."

"I won't, and I'm really sorry for scaring you," Kisshu said softly.

"Thanks, Kish," Ichigo said. "Should we go see what Mom made for dinner?"

Kisshu's eyes lit up, and Ichigo giggled. Then she took his hand and pulled him off the bed, and pulled him downstairs. The kitchen smelled really good, and Ichigo went in to ask Sakura what she was making.

Sakura looked up as she came in, and said, "I'm making fried fish and mashed potatoes."

"Fish?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

Kisshu came running in at that and asked, "We get to have fish?"

"Yep, I thought that would help you two," Sakura said. "We're having something different for dessert, though, and it's a surprise."

"I like surprise desserts," Ichigo said.

"I like almost all desserts," Kisshu said.

"'Almost'?" Sakura asked.

"I don't like banana desserts," Kisshu said.

"I see," Sakura said. "Well, it's good that you don't, because you're allergic- and I hate making them."

"Shintaro's been adapting well," Kisshu commented. "Considering his previous obsession, I mean."

"I heard that!" Shintaro shouted from the living room. He came in a minute later and said, "I wasn't that bad."

"Yes you were," Ichigo, Sakura and Kisshu said together.

"Seriously, that's one of the worst obsessions ever," Ichigo said. "At least you can do lots of things with apples."

"I hate apples," Shintaro grumbled. "I've seen enough apples in the past few months to last me a lifetime, and yet there are still MORE apples. Don't you ever get tired of apples?"

"No," Kisshu said. "And considering I came from a planet where fruit was non-existent, I don't really think fruit obsessions are odd. Pai's addicted to peaches."

"Does Taruto have a fruit obsession?" Ichigo asked.

"No, he's got a candy obsession, thanks to his insane girlfriend," Kisshu said gloomily. "I am so glad I don't have to live with him; he was on sugar high at least once a week, and the last time before I moved out was BAD. He spent the entire night screaming about "They're about to eat me!" Pai asked him who was trying to eat him, and he said, "The shampoo monsters in the bathroom!" Pai and I had to sleep on Earth that night, because Taruto would. Not. Shut. Up."

"That wouldn't happen to have been the night before Pai tried everything he could think of to kill Pudding, would it?" Ichigo asked. "I was fighting you, but the others told me that Pai kept going for Pudding and ignoring them."

"Probably," Kisshu said. "At one point Pai was devising plans to brainwash Pudding into thinking Taruto was evil, but I convinced him that we'd have less chance of winning if he did that."

"Jeez, I'd expect that of Blondie, not Pai," Ichigo said. "He must have been pretty desperate."

"We both were," Kisshu said. "I can't count how many nights I spent in the tree outside your bedroom window, because Taruto was screaming his head off and Pai was telling me that he'd kill me if I tried to sleep in 'his' tree."

"Which tree does he think is his?" Sakura asked.

"The big one in Inohara Park," Kisshu said. "It's big enough that both of us could sleep there, but does he care? No. And that tree isn't his anyways. But every time I tried to sleep there while he was there, I had to dodge lightning bolts from his fans. So I ended up in the tree outside Ichigo's bedroom window, and just had to hope she didn't spot me, because getting hit in the head with a book is not a pleasant way to start the day."

"When did I hit you in the head with a book?" Ichigo asked.

"You didn't, but considering we thought we hated each other, I figured you would if you saw me, so I was careful," Kisshu said. "That tree was my favorite place to hang out before you and I got together."

Ichigo smiled, and said, "I'm glad we're together now."

Kisshu smiled back, and said, "Me too."

**I KNOW it's short. Please review anyways!**


	21. Nightmares

**Neko Chapter 21:**

**Nightmares**

That night, Kisshu decided to sleep with Ichigo again. She was still acting pretty clingy, and he figured they'd both be better off if he slept with her. Ichigo certainly didn't mind, and after they both got in bed, she attached herself to Kisshu, then fell asleep. Kisshu started stroking her hair, and she started purring. He fell asleep soon after, relaxed by her purring.

_**Later that night, however: **_Kisshu was woken up by Ichigo whimpering. Just as he was about to wake her up, she screamed, "KISH!"

Scared, Kisshu shook her, but received no response. Instead, Ichigo started crying in her sleep. Sakura and Shintaro came in a minute later, and Sakura asked, "What happened?"

"She's having a nightmare, but I can't wake her up, and now she's crying," Kisshu said. "Can you call Pai?"

Sakura picked up Ichigo's cell phone, and scrolled through her contacts until she found Pai's number, and hit Send. Kisshu was stroking Ichigo's hair, trying to calm her down, but it wasn't helping. And she was literally attached to Kisshu, clinging to him. Sakura came over and said, "Pai's not picking up."

Kisshu sighed. "I guess that means telepathy," he said. He closed his eyes, then suddenly got another idea. He focused on Pai, and saw him reading in his lab. Kisshu concentrated, then snapped his fingers. He heard a 'thump', and opened his eyes. Pai was sitting on the floor, and he immediately yelled, "KISSHU!"

"Kill me later, something's wrong with Ichigo," Kisshu said. "And she won't let go of me, so no, I can't get up."

Pai got up and came over. Ichigo was still crying, and she was also still sound asleep. Pai put a hand on her forehead, and said, "I guess the nightmare problem just kicked in. Traumatic experiences leave scars on the person's mind, and that often results in nightmares. Ichigo's nightmare is about you killing yourself, Kisshu. I'll see what I can do." His hand began to glow, and Ichigo's tears slowly stopped. Her body, which had been tense, relaxed, and she relaxed the death grip she had on Kisshu.

A few minutes later, Pai took his hand away, and tapped Ichigo's forehead. She woke up with a gasp, and Kisshu asked, "Koneko-chan, what's wrong?"

Ichigo looked at him, then unlocked her arms from around his waist, and put her hand on his chest. "Uh… what are you doing?" Kisshu asked.

"What happened to the injury?" Ichigo asked, sounding puzzled.

"Koneko-chan, you had a nightmare," Kisshu said. "I'm fine. Except for the bruises on my ribs…."

"How did you get bruises on your ribs?" Ichigo asked.

"You had a death grip on my waist," Kisshu said dryly.

"You're still alive, though, right?" Ichigo asked, sounding worried.

"You can't tell?" Kisshu asked. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Not for long," Pai said dryly. "You're doomed."

Ichigo sounded panicked as she asked, "Why is Kish doomed? Did something happen?"

"Pai, don't scare Ichigo, I think she's had enough for one week," Kisshu said.

Pai looked at Ichigo, and said, "Fine, you can be doomed later."

"I don't want Kish to be doomed!" Ichigo wailed- and started crying again.

"Pai, I think you should leave, and stop talking about doom," Sakura said. "I don't think dooming Kisshu is going to be very good for Ichigo's state of mental health, which is already getting a bit shaky."

"Sorry," Pai said, and teleported out.

Sakura sighed and sat down with Ichigo and Kisshu, then said, "Ichigo, Pai's not going to do anything to Kish. He was just upset because Kish dragged him out of his lab to come help you, k?"

Ichigo looked at her, then back at Kisshu. He smiled reassuringly and said, "Pai's just upset because he was daydreaming about Lettuce when I dragged him here. He'll get over it, so don't worry about me getting doomed."

"Okay…" Ichigo said sleepily. "I'm tired, can we go back to sleep?"

"Good plan," Kisshu said. He looked at Sakura, who got the message, and pushed Shintaro out, then tucked them in, and said, "Sleep well."

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said sleepily as she snuggled up to Kisshu again. Sakura smiled and closed the door as she left. Kisshu and Ichigo snuggled up to each other, and went back to sleep.

The next morning Ichigo woke up first for a change, and looked over at Kisshu, who was still sleeping. He didn't look very happy, and Ichigo decided to see if petting him would help. She started stroking his hair, and soon after, his face relaxed a bit, and he started purring. _I wonder why it took him this long to start purring, _she thought. _I started purring the first time I got petted. Maybe it's because he's not human. Oh well, it's really cute. _She continued petting Kisshu, and he continued purring.

A while later, Kisshu started to wake up, and noticed that Ichigo was petting him, and he was purring again. _Purring feels kind of strange, _he thought. _But Ichigo playing with my hair is nice._ He sighed a little and leaned into her hand. "Kish, are you awake?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just like that feeling," Kisshu said.

"I can tell, you're purring again," Ichigo said. "Your purring is really cute."

"It feels weird," Kisshu said. "I guess I'm just not used to it." He sat up, and suddenly started feeling dizzy.

Ichigo noticed he looked puzzled, and asked, "Something wrong?"

"I'm dizzy," Kisshu said.

Ichigo put a hand on his forehead, and said, "You don't have a fever, so that's not the cause. Lie back down, it'll just get worse if you sit up."

Kisshu laid back on the bed, and closed his eyes, putting a hand on his forehead. "Can you call Pai?" he asked.

"Sure," Ichigo said. She grabbed her cell phone, going through her contacts list, and hit send as soon as she reached Pai's number.

Two rings later, she heard, _"Ichigo?"_

"Hi Pai," Ichigo said. "Kish is really dizzy, but he doesn't have a fever. Can you come over?"

"_On my way," _Pai said, and hung up. He teleported in about five minutes later, and said, "What happened?"

"I sat up and started feeling dizzy," Kisshu said. "I don't know why, but every time I open my eyes, the room starts spinning."

"Were you doing anything before that?" Pai asked.

"I was purring because Ichigo was petting me," Kisshu said. "Do you think purring is bad for me?"

"I don't think so, but I can check," Pai said. He went over and put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. Then he looked puzzled. "I can't sense the problem," he said.

"Does that mean you can't fix it?" Kisshu asked. "I think it's starting to affect my stomach too…"

"Ichigo, go get a bucket," Pai said.

Ichigo ran to the hall closet, took out a bucket, and ran back to her room. Kisshu opened his eyes when he heard her footsteps- then groaned, clutching his stomach. Ichigo quickly handed him the bucket. He took it, turning green. "I hate thr-" he didn't even finish the sentence before he threw up. He felt Ichigo rubbing his back gently as his stomach lurched again, and he continued throwing up. Kisshu thought he was done a few minutes later, and he said, "I think-" but then had to turn back to the bucket quickly, as his stomach started lurching around again.

Ichigo and Pai were worried; Kisshu didn't seem to be stopping, and he really didn't sound good. It sounded like he was choking as he threw up. Pai went over and put a hand on Kisshu's stomach as Kisshu threw up again. His hand began to glow, and Kisshu felt his stomach stop lurching. Soon after, Kisshu stopped throwing up. "Thanks Pai," Kisshu said- only it came out in a whisper.

"Are you any less dizzy?" Pai asked.

"I don't feel dizzy anymore," Kisshu whispered. "Why can't I speak above a whisper?"

"I think it's probably from all that throwing up," Pai said. "You lost your voice from that. Is your throat sore?"

"Kind of," Kisshu whispered.

"I'll heal that, but that might not help the fact that you seem to have a pretty bad case of laryngitis," Pai said. "You probably shouldn't talk much for a while, or your voice won't come back."

Kisshu looked at Ichigo sadly. Pai sighed and said, "I suppose you want me to give Ichigo the ability to use telepathy?"

Kisshu nodded, and Pai went over to Ichigo, and asked, "Is that okay?"

"Yep, and it'll cut down on the phone calls," Ichigo said.

Pai put a hand on her forehead, and a minute later she felt something like an electric shock in her head. "Okay, focus on me and think what you want to say," Pai said.

Ichigo concentrated, then said telepathically, _Can you hear me?_

_Yep, _Pai said. Aloud he said, "You're all set. I'm going back, try to keep Kisshu from talking aloud."

"I will," Ichigo said.

Pai nodded and teleported out.

**I know it's insanely short, but I'm really tired for some reason, so I'll try to get more out soon, k? Please review!**


	22. The Training Begins

**Neko Chapter 22:**

**Training Begins**

Sakura came in a while later, and said, "I thought I heard teleportation; is everything okay?"

"Pai was here because Kish was really dizzy," Ichigo said. "And then he couldn't stop throwing up for some reason. Pai healed that, but Kish lost his voice, and Pai says no talking for a while."

Sakura looked at Kisshu, who sighed. "Do you want some writing paper, Kish?" she asked.

Kisshu shook his head and pointed to Ichigo. Sakura looked at Ichigo, who said, "He means that I can use telepathy, so I can just tell you what he wants to say."

"When did that happen?" Sakura asked.

"Pai just gave me that ability," Ichigo said. "It's cool, and now I don't have to grab my cell phone every time something happens."

"Nothing better happen for a while," Sakura said, giving Kisshu a stern look. Kisshu's ears drooped, and his eyes went sad. Sakura sighed. "I just don't want a repeat of the other night," she said. "One was more than enough."

Kisshu's eyes filled with tears, and Ichigo said, "Mom, I meant if Kish gets sick or something." She sat down on the bed with Kisshu, who buried his face in her shoulder. She gently hugged him, feeling his shoulders shaking. Then she heard, _Is Sakura mad at me?_

"Kish wants to know if you're mad at him," Ichigo said to Sakura.

"No, but I wish you'd think first, Kish," Sakura said. "Were you thinking when you tried to kill yourself?"

Kisshu shook his head. Sakura came over and sat down with him and Ichigo, then said, "Kish, I want you to work on thinking first, k?"

Kisshu looked at her, taking his face out of Ichigo's shoulder. Sakura put her hand on his cheek, and said, "Will you do that for me?"

Kisshu nodded, leaning into her hand. Sakura smiled, and started rubbing her thumb against his cheek. Kisshu started purring again, and closed his eyes, looking happy. Sakura took her hand away a while later, and he looked at her, puzzled. "I have to check the pie," Sakura said. "It might be done, actually."

_What kind? _Kisshu asked telepathically.

"Kish wants to know what kind," Ichigo said.

"Strawberry rhubarb," Sakura said. "I'll be back, k?"

Kisshu nodded, and Sakura got up and left. "Kish, do you want to go downstairs and see if the pie's ready?" Ichigo asked.

_What's rhubarb? _Kisshu asked.

"It's a type of plant that's kind of sour, but when you mix it with sugar and strawberries, it gives the pie a great flavor," Ichigo said. "I like it; you should try it."

_Okay, let's go downstairs, _Kisshu said. He got up, and followed Ichigo downstairs to the kitchen. Sakura was taking the pie out of the oven, and she put it on the stove before turning to them and saying, "It's done, but now it has to cool, so no picking."

_It smells good, _Kisshu said.

"Kish says it smells good," Ichigo said.

Sakura smiled, then said, "I hope it tastes good too." Then her smile faded a bit, and she asked, "When are you two going to start teaching Satsuki how to fight?"

_We could start today, _Kisshu said. _Let's go ask if Satsuki is busy._

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Mom, Kish says we can start today, so we're going to go ask Satsuki if she's busy. I forgot to get her cell phone number."

"Go get cleaned up first," Sakura said. "You're both still wearing pajamas."

Ichigo and Kisshu both looked embarrassed and went back upstairs. "You can go first," Ichigo told Kisshu.

Kisshu nodded, and went to his room to get some clothes. Ichigo picked out a pair of loose pink pants, and a short-sleeved light green mock turtle-neck. A minute later, she heard the water start running in the bathroom, and the shower turn on. She sat down on her bed to wait for Kisshu.

Fifteen minutes later, she heard the bathroom door open, and Kisshu came into her room. _I'm done, your turn, _he said.

Ichigo smiled and went to take her shower. When she was done, she got dressed and went back to her room to do her hair. To her surprise, her door was closed, so she knocked. Getting no response, telepathic or otherwise, she opened the door, and saw Kisshu going through her underwear drawer. He looked up, startled, then put this totally innocent look on his face.

_Care to explain yourself? _Ichigo asked telepathically.

_I was looking for socks? _Kisshu said. He sounded like he was making a suggestion, and Ichigo sighed.

_You have plenty of your own, _Ichigo replied. _Out, before I let my dad know._

Kisshu looked horrified, and teleported. Ichigo giggled, then went over and closed the drawer. She sat down in front of her mirror, did her hair, and then went downstairs, grabbing her cell phone on the way out.

She found a very strange scene in the kitchen. Sakura was holding Kisshu, who had somehow turned into a kitten again, and Shintaro was saying, "I didn't do anything!"

"Well, you must have done something, because Kish didn't turn into a cat for no reason," Sakura said. "Were you being scary again?"

"NO!" Shintaro shouted, causing Neko Kisshu to put his paws on his ears. "Maybe he did something, and he's scared I'll find out what it is!"

Kisshu looked scared. "I thought so," Shintaro said, getting a slight death aura. He turned to Ichigo, and said, "Okay, out with it, what'd Kisshu do?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Ichigo said. "Now calm down, and go away so I can turn Kish back to normal and we can go see Satsuki."

Shintaro wasn't having that, and said, "I'm going to find out what he did, and then he's going to be in a world of trouble."

Kisshu got even more scared, and jumped out of Sakura's arms, then ran for the stairs. "Now you've done it," Ichigo sighed. "He's probably under my bed, and it'll take me all day to get him out, and then we can't go see Satsuki. Nice, Dad."

"I'll help you get him out," Sakura said. "Your father, on the other hand, will be locked in the garage, so he won't be able to scare Kish anymore."

"WHY!?" Shintaro shouted.

"For scaring harmless kittens," Sakura said. "I'll let you back in for dinner." Before Shintaro could protest more, Sakura dragged him to the garage door, shoved him in, and slammed the door, then locked it. Then she went to a shelf on the wall, and pressed a button on a remote.

"What's that?" Ichigo asked.

"It'll disable the garage door mechanism," Sakura said with a smirk. "Now he can't get out."

Sure enough, they heard Shintaro shout, "WHY WON'T IT OPEN!?"

Ichigo and her mother burst out laughing. "I guess we should go get Kish," Ichigo said after a while.

Sakura nodded, and they went upstairs to Ichigo's room. "Kish?" Ichigo called. "We locked my dad in the garage, it's safe to come out now. Where are you?"

_In the tree, and now I can't get down, _Kisshu said miserably. _Can you come get me?_

Ichigo went to the open window, and looked out. Kisshu was on the big branch closest to her window, and he looked nervous. Ichigo sighed and leaned out the window, then said, "Kish, can you try to get a little closer?"

Kisshu hesitantly walked closer to the window, and Ichigo reached out and gently picked him up, cradling him in her arms. "No more trees, okay?" she said softly. "It's not a good idea. Do you want to go back to normal now?"

Kisshu stood up in her arms and kissed her. There was a POOF, and Kisshu was back in Cyniclon form- and on top of Ichigo. He got off her and helped her up, then said telepathically, _Thanks Koneko-chan._

"Welcome," Ichigo said. "Should we go see Satsuki? It's already noon."

Kisshu nodded, then said, _Tell Sakura I don't know how long we'll be gone._

Ichigo nodded and said, "Mom, Kish says he doesn't know how long we'll be gone. We'll try to be back for dinner, though."

"Okay, have fun," Sakura said. "If you're walking, you might want to take one of your pills, Kish."

Kisshu nodded, and went back upstairs. He came back five minutes later with human ears, and looked at Ichigo. She went to get her shoes, followed by Kisshu. A minute later, they were walking out the door.

They walked down the street to Satsuki's house hand in hand, and reached it about ten minutes later. Ichigo went up to the front door and rang the bell, followed by Kisshu. The door was opened by Satsuki's mother, who said, "Oh, you're Ichigo and Kisshu, right?"

"Hai," Ichigo said. "Is Satsuki here? We wanted to get started on self-defense today."

"Sure, come in," Mrs. Taika said.

Kisshu and Ichigo followed her in, and waited as she called, "Satsuki, your friends are here!"

They heard footsteps on the stairs, and Satsuki came down. "Hi guys, what's up?" she asked.

"We thought we'd start the self-defense training today," Ichigo said. "Do you mind?"

"No, let me just put shoes on," Satsuki said. She got a pair of sneakers out, and tied them on, then stood up. "Kisshu, you haven't said anything, is anything wrong?" she asked.

"Kish's got laryngitis, and Pai said no talking for a while," Ichigo said. "We can communicate telepathically, so I can tell you what he's saying."

"You don't want me to try and heal that?" Satsuki asked.

_You should save your energy, you'll need it for training, _Kisshu said.

"Kish says you should save your energy for training," Ichigo said.

"If you're sure," Satsuki said. "Where are we going?"

_The training room of our ship, _Kisshu said. Ichigo relayed this to Satsuki, and she turned to her mom and said, "I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll try for dinnertime, k?"

"Sure," Mrs. Taika said. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Satsuki said.

Kisshu took her and Ichigo by the hand, and teleported to a large room. _Do you know anything about self-defense? _Kisshu asked.

"Kish wants to know if you know anything about self-defense," Ichigo said.

"No," Satsuki said. "I'm pretty flexible, though. I was on the rhythmic gymnastics team until I broke my ankle. That was a while ago, though."

_So you know basic stretches, at least? _Kisshu asked.

"Kish wants to know if you know basic stretches," Ichigo said.

"Yep," Satsuki said. "Do you want to start with that?"

Kisshu nodded, and started stretching, copied by Ichigo and Satsuki. About half an hour later, Kisshu stopped, and said to Ichigo, _We're going to work on punching now. You tell Satsuki, and I'll go find the punching bag._

Ichigo nodded as Kisshu teleported off, and told Satsuki, "He wants to work on punching, so he's getting a punching bag."

Satsuki nodded, and they waited a while. Finally Kisshu teleported in with a punching bag that looked like it had had something sewn onto it at some point. There were threads sticking out in a humanoid shape. Ichigo asked, "What was on that bag?"

_A picture I made of the treehugger, _Kisshu said. _I had to take all the pins out, that's what took me so long._

Ichigo giggled, and said to Satsuki, "Kish says that he had a picture of Aoyama tacked to the punching bag."

Satsuki giggled too, and said, "I guess you really hated him, Kisshu."

_Yup, _Kisshu said, nodding. _Ichigo, tell Satsuki to punch the bag, I want to see how strong she is._

"Satsuki, Kish wants you to punch the bag," Ichigo said.

Satsuki made a fist, and brought it back, then punched the bag. It swung back a little, but not much. _Ask if she's ever done anything to strengthen her arms, _Kisshu told Ichigo.

"Kish wants to know if you've ever done anything to strengthen your arms," Ichigo told Satsuki.

"Not really," Satsuki admitted. "And it's been a while since I did any serious exercise. My legs are probably stronger than my arms."

_Then I think we need to work on strengthening your arms, _Kisshu said. Ichigo relayed this to Satsuki, who said, "Okay. Does that mean I have to lift weights?"

_We don't have any, so no. We have a bar that you use to pull yourself up and down. Come see, _Kisshu said. Ichigo repeated this, and she and Satsuki followed Kisshu to a door in the back of the room.

When they went in, Ichigo and Satsuki saw it was full of exercise machines. Kisshu led the way over to a bar that was attached to two poles, forming an 'H'. He wrapped both hands around the bar, and pulled himself up, then flipped over the bar. Then he looked at Satsuki. _You probably shouldn't try that for a while, but you can start by trying to pull yourself up, _he said. _We can work on just this for a while, until your arms are stronger._

Ichigo relayed all this to Satsuki, who went over to the bar, and tried to pull herself up. She managed to get about five inches off the ground, but no more than that. _Keep trying, you'll get there, _Kisshu said.

Satsuki nodded, and kept going.

**I am SO sorry I didn't get this out yesterday, I was gone all day and then decided to make up that one-shot. I'll try to get more out soon. I know Satsuki's not very strong yet, but I didn't want to make her a Mary-Sue, since she's better at healing than Pai already. But she'll get stronger, so bear with me and REVIEW!**


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